Andy Murray believes he is in the form of his life as he prepares to kick off his grass court campaign in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Queen’s Club.
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Murray arrives for the west London event in fine fettle after winning his first clay titles in Madrid and Munich before reaching the French Open semi-finals.
After a frustrating 2014 marred by recovery from back surgery and an unwanted parting with coach Ivan Lendl, there is a real spring in Murray’s step again.
The 28-year-old Scot has been in a rich vein of form since marrying Kim Sears two months ago and took great encouragement from the way he pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets in Paris.
And he says he is finally back to the peak performances that brought him grand slam titles at the US Open and Wimbledon.
“Last year was very difficult because the first six months were hard coming off the surgery. I maybe didn’t expect it to be that hard,” Murray said.
“But this year I’ve felt ready to win major competitions again. It’s huge progress from where I was last year. The grass suits my play much more than clay and hopefully if I can take the form from the clay onto grass I can have good results.”
Still Murray knows it would be unwise to make too many bold predictions about his chances of winning a fourth Queen’s title or second Wimbledon crown.
“In Australia I felt I was playing very good tennis, similar to the level when I won in New York, then the clay was the best I’ve played and closest I’ve come to reaching the final in Paris,” said Murray, who faces qualifier Yen-Hsun Lu in the Queen’s first round.
“But things change in a few days. No one would have thought Stan (Wawrinka) would end up winning in Paris. So just because I’m playing well now it doesn’t mean I’m going to be playing well in a couple of weeks.
“Likewise if I played badly here it doesn’t mean I’m going to have a bad Wimbledon.”