Murray eyeing good Wimbledon run despite first-round defeat by De Minaur at Queen’s

The Scot says his level is where he wants it to be going into Wimbledon

Action Plus / Panoramic

June 20, 2023

Andy Murray has always been able to put things in perspective, whether it be playing down the highs of a massive win or the pain of defeat.

A 6-3, 6-1 defeat by Alex de Minaur in the first round at Queen’s Club on Tuesday was not the preparation he was hoping for going into Wimbledon, and unless there are a number of withdrawals, he will just miss out on being seeded, which had been his stated goal.

CLINICAL 👏@alexdeminaur makes the RO16, taking out Murray in a swift display, 6-3 6-1 at Queen’s.#cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/4XkAe6HtUQ

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 20, 2023

But the 36-year-old two-time Wimbledon champion, who sits No 38 in the live rankings, believes he has shown enough in the grass-court season to date, winning Challenger Tour titles in Surbiton and Nottingham, to be going into Wimbledon with his game in a good place.

“I think last few weeks there has been lots of positive things,” he told reporters at Queen’s Club. “I actually served very well across the two weeks. That wasn’t so much the case today. Didn’t maybe serve as well as I would have liked. Yeah, that’s definitely something I’ll definitely work on.

I don’t want to like over-analyze necessarily today; like, there is definitely some things I can do better, but at the same time, you know, I have done lots of good things over the last couple of weeks as well.

“I want to keep going in that direction. Yeah, keep serving well, keep working on my movement. That was something we spent a lot of time working on before Surbiton and Nottingham, and it’s really crucial for me that I’m moving well. So definitely spend a lot of time working on that.”

“I know my level is there to compere with the top players”

De Minaur was a step up from the quality of opponents he faced in Surbiton or Nottingham but Murray says he is happy with his standard of tennis.

“I won the tournament last week without dropping a set,” he said. “I only lost one set in Surbiton. Was holding serve very comfortably. Was moving well, hitting the ball good. There is a lot of positive signs there.

“The practices and everything I had before those tournaments too with some good players, top players, you know, I was doing just fine as well. So I’m comfortable with that. I know my level is there to compete with the top players.

just need to take a few days and get a good week, 10 days’ work in, and (I’m) sure I’ll be playing well on the first Monday of Wimbledon.”