Andy Murray will play at Queen’s in major boost to Wimbledon hopes

Murray has not played a competitive match in nearly a year but plans to return at next week’s Fever-Tree Championship

Andy Murray will play at the Queen’s Championship next week after the three-time Grand Slam winner was named in the main draw, increasing his hopes of returning to Wimbledon after nearly a year out injured.

The 31-year-old practised on Friday afternoon in a bid to test his fitness for the event, and despite looking a touch rusty, the Scot has decided to play in next week’s championship in what is a significant step up in his preparations for Wimbledon – which begins on 2 July.

Murray has been absent after suffering a serious hip injury last summer which required surgery in January after he pulled out of the Australian Open.

The operation raised fears that we may have seen the last of Murray – who won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 as well as the 2012 US Open – but his participation at Queen’s will be welcomed by his fans ahead of his home Grand Slam.

Murray pulled out of this week’s Libema Open in the Netherlands after admitting he was “not quite ready and wanted to be 100 per cent”, but Queen’s announced that he is in the draw for next week’s tournament, which begins at midday.

The five-time Queen’s champion last played a competitive match against Sam Querrey on 12 July 2017, and he has slipped to 157th in the world rankings as well as falling behind Kyle Edmund in the British rankings.