Murray to face Troicki in Wimbledon warm-up
Andy Murray will continue his Wimbledon preparations by playing a match this afternoon at The Boodles, an exhibition event staged in the gardens of Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire. The 24-year-old Scot will face Serbia's Viktor Troicki, who has lost all four of their meetings, most recently at the French Open.
Murray, who will learn his first-round opponent at Wimbledon next week when the draw is made this morning, wants more match practice despite having made a winning start to the grass-court season with his victory in the Aegon Championships final at Queen's Club on Monday.
While some players have chosen to compete in this week's Aegon International at Eastbourne or another tournament at Den Bosch in the Netherlands, others prefer to play in the various grass-court exhibition events around the London area. Juan Martin del Potro, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco have been among those who have taken the chance to play at The Boodles and were joined yesterday by Novak Djokovic. The world No 2 was making his first appearance of the year on grass, having withdrawn from Queen's Club last week wanting to rest. The 24-year-old looked in excellent shape as he beat France's Gilles Simon, the world No 16, 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes.
"It was great, tennis-wise," Djokovic said afterwards. "It was a fantastic match. Luckily, we could play for an hour or so because the weather was very unpredictable. It is still a preparation period for all of us. We're all getting ready for next week."
Djokovic said he was looking forward to Wimbledon. "It is the most prestigious and most important tournament in our sport because of its history and tradition," he said.
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