Andy Murray has just won ATP Challenger titles in Surbiton and Nottingham (Picture: Getty)
Andy Murray’s quest to become seeded for Wimbledon came to an end on Tuesday after a crushing opening round Queen’s Club loss to Alex de Minaur.
The British tennis legend needed to win to keep his hopes alive of being ranked inside the top 32 ahead of this year’s Championships – which start on July 3.
But the 36-year-old former world No.1, who plays with a metal hip, suffered a 6-3 6-1 defeat to the Australian world No.18 at the grass-court event in London.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray has been on a resurgence since career-saving surgery and just won back-to-back ATP Challenger titles in Surbiton and Nottingham, winning 10 matches in a row.
Murray is currently ranked world No.38 and will hope his early Queen’s Club exit will not be too much of a psychological below before Wimbledon.
Speaking two weeks ago, Murray felt that he was still capable of beating the best 10 players in the world on his favourite grass surface.
‘It is hard to put numbers on it, but yes, I would fancy myself against a lot of them [the top 10],’ Murray said.
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‘Last year I won against Kyrgios who made the final of Wimbledon, I won against Tsitsipas – it is probably not his favourite surface but he is one of the best players in the world.
‘I was a set all with Berrettini – who is quite clearly in the top few grass-court players – in the final of Stuttgart before I hurt my abs.’
Murray decided to skip this year’s French Open to focus on Wimbledon and has won a total of three ATP Challenger titles this year, having also lifted the Open du Pays d’Aix trophy in May – in what was his first piece of silverware in four years.
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He had just won titles in Surbiton and Nottingham…