Andy Murray return: What time does his Queen’s tennis return start, how to watch on BBC and Amazon Prime, order of play

Everything you need to know about Andy Murray’s return to competitive tennis at Queen’s

Andy Murray will take to the court for the first time since January on Thursday when he and new doubles partner Feliciano Lopez face Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal at the Queen’s Club Fever-Tree Championships.

Murray underwent a hip resurfacing operation just 142 days ago without knowing whether he would ever play tennis again, but he is set for a comeback in the doubles format at Queen’s after describing himself as “pain-free”. He will primarily be aiming to test his physical condition, using the slightly less intensive doubles setting as a way of ascertaining whether a return to high-level singles is a realistic prospect.

Victory will nonetheless of course be a target as well, but Murray and Lopez look to be in for a tough test. Their Colombian opponents are the top seeds at Queen’s, having progressed as far as the semi-finals at the French Open earlier this month. The winners of both the Barcelona Open and the Italian Open will not have come as a welcome draw for a pairing who have never previously partnered up.

Should Murray manage to progress then he may meet fellow Britons in the next round: the winner of the match will take on either Dan Evans and Ken Skupski or fourth seeds Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Further progression could theoretically set up a meeting between Andy and his brother Jamie, who is playing alongside Neal Skupski.

For the Colombian pairing, success at Queen’s would cement their position of joint-fifth in the men’s doubles world rankings, which is currently under pressure from both Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray. Farah and Cabal are also likely to carry their partnership into Wimbledon, unlike Murray and Lopez, and will therefore be looking to build up their chemistry on grass.

What time does it start?

Your guess is as good as ours on this one. Murray/Lopez vs Farah/Cabal was always widely expected to end up on Wednesday rather than the originally-scheduled Tuesday, but even this has been thwarted by significant rain delays at the tournament. Some time late on Thursday now seems the most likely outcome as it is due to be the fifth match on Centre Court, with better weather conditions giving the green light for play to resume.

Where can I watch it?

The match will be shown live on BBC Two, as well as Amazon Prime. Coverage of the tournament on Prime starts from midday; BBC programming commences at the same time, but for the first hour is only accessible via the red button.

It’s a big match for…

Andy Murray. While everyone has their own reasons for wanting to do well in this match-up, the stakes are particularly high for the returning Scot. The 32-year-old will know a lot more about his prospects of making a comeback to the top of the sport by the end of the match, as he sees how his resurfaced hip responds to competitive action.

Murray will partner with Feliciano Lopez (Getty)

Order of play

Centre Court

Marin Cilic vs Diego Schwartzman

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Kyle Edmund

Stan Wawrinka vs Nicolas Mahut

Stefanos Tsitsipas/Kyle Edmund vs Jemery Chardy

Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah vs Feliciano Lopez & Andy Murray

Weird stat

5: This will be Andy Murray’s fifth different doubles partner in his last six matches. He has not played at all in the format since 2017, when he suffered first-round exits in Doha and Dubai alongside Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Nenad Zimonjic respectively before exiting Indian Wells at the second round with Dan Evans. Prior to this he had played with Jamie Murray in the Davis Cup, triumphing over Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer.

Remember when…

Cabal and Farah produced this epic finale against the Bryan brothers on the way to victory in Italy earlier this year. Embedding code below:

Past meetings

Murray and Lopez are a new pairing, and so have never met Cabal and Lopez before. However, Lopez lost to the Colombians in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open earlier this year alongside Pablo Carreno Busta.

Form guide

Murray (pre-operation, singles): R128 Australian Open, R16 Brisbane International, QF Shenzhen, R64 US Open

Lopez (doubles, not with Murray): R32 French Open, SF Barcelona Open, R16 Monte-Carlo Masters, R32 Miami Open

Farah/Cabal: SF French Open, W Italian Open, R32 Madrid Open, W Barcelona Open

Andy Murray returns to competitive tennis at Queen’s on Thursday (PA)

Odds

Murray/Lopez: 7/4

Farah/Cabal: 21/50