Andy Murray has accepted a place in the Queen’s Club draw. (Source: Queen’s Club Facebook)
Andy Murray will make a competitive return to the tennis courts after a hip surgery at the Queen’s Club next week having practiced with fellow Briton Cameron Norrie on Friday. He had then stated that the decision to return to competitive action will be made on Saturday with the draw for the tournament – which acts as a warmup for Wimbledon – slated to be held later in the day.
Murray, who has not played since Wimbledon last year, had a hip operation in January. In the middle of it, he was expected to play at the Libema Open in Netherlands but was forced to pull out with fitness still not up to 100%.
Queen’s, which begins on Monday, has the strongest line-up in its 128-year history with 15 of the world’s top 30 taking part. World number four and French Open semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro withdrew from the tournament on Friday after receiving medical advice to rest. Earlier, French Open champion and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal had pulled out for same reasons.
Last week, Andy’s mother Judy told BBC Sport that Murray would not risk playing at Wimbledon unless he was fully fit. “The most important thing is he gets fit again for the long term and any top athlete would tell you they would not come back until they felt they could give 100%, especially in a major like Wimbledon,” she said. The grass court grand slam begins on July 2 with the finals to be played on July 14-15.
Elsewhere, Britons Dan Evans and Jay Clarke have been awarded wildcards into the main draw at Queen’s. The field includes Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kevin Anderson, David Goffin, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, Kyle Edmund, Tomas Berdych with wild cards for Novak Djokovic and Norrie.