Andy Murray claimed he can still beat most top players on grass at Wimbledon after his crushing defeat at the Cinch Championships saw him miss out on his mission to get seeded.
The former world No.1 had won ten consecutive matches and two second-tier Challenger Tour titles on grass in the last fortnight to climb into the world’s top 40. But needing to reach at least the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club to get the protection of a seeding, the five-time champion here was given a reality check by world No.18 Alex de Minaur in a one-sided 6-3 6-1 defeat.
Murray has now lost six consecutive ATP matches stretching back to March. It means that the three-time Major champion could now draw defending champion and hot favourite Novak Djokovic - or any other top star - next Friday.
Murray, 36, has not got beyond the third round in his two singles appearances at Wimbledon since his two hip surgeries when he was unseeded. But asked if he can beat most of the seeded players this year, the Scot said: “Yeah, I think so. Obviously grass, there are less players that are probably comfortable on the surface than the clay and the hard courts.
"Some of the seeded players are maybe not that comfortable on the grass, so there's some draws that are better than others. There are also guys that are not seeded but love the grass courts and it's their favourite surface. So, yeah, let’s see what happens now.”
Murray had a short turnaround time from his Sunday win in Nottingham and practised for only 45 minutes on Monday after taking his children to school. He failed to take three break points in De Minaur’s opening service game and he did not get another chance. Katie Boulter’s Aussie boyfriend, who had prepared for breaking more British hearts by watching the Ashes, broke him twice in each set to extend his winning record to 4-0 against the Scot.
His fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios tweeted: “Muzz doesn’t like playing demon at all, crazy.” Murray said: “Obviously he was a lot better than me today. I started quite well but as the match went on, I lost my way a little bit. This tournament is obviously at a different level from the ones I was playing in the last couple of weeks. But I believe I am playing at a higher level than I showed today.
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“It's easy to overreact and over-analyse today. I know my level is there to compete with the top players. I just need to take a few days rest and get a good ten days' work in, and sure I'll be playing well on the first Monday of Wimbledon.”
Murray will first play in the doubles here with Cam Norrie on Wednesday after the British No.1 has played the second singles match on Centre Court against Aussie Jordan Thompson on Tuesday.
Fellow wildcard Ryan Peniston will face Holger Rune on Wednesday after the No.2 seed secured his first-ever grasscourt victory over Maxime Cressy 7-6 7-6. World No.143 Liam Broady lost 1-6 6-4 6-3 to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
