Andy Murray is hoping Nick Kyrgios’ “unpredictable” nature means there will not be too many draining points as he prepares to make his comeback against the Australian.
The two-time Wimbledon champion decided on Saturday that he will end an 11-month injury absence at the Queen’s Club next week, but would be forgiven for wishing he had not after immediately drawing Australian No.1 Kyrgios in round one.
Murray has never lost to Kyrgios in five meetings, yet surely would not have picked him as his first opponent following hip surgery.
“He’s always a tough guy to play against,” said the Scot, in quotes reported by the Daily Mail.
“He’s got a brilliant serve and obviously he’s very, very talented. He’s unpredictable as well. The positive is that there probably won’t be loads of long points.
“Points can be quite sharp with him, which is good, but obviously a very tricky match with the way that he plays and how comfortable he is on the grass.”
Murray has not been seen competitively since limping out of his Wimbledon title defence last summer.
Hip surgery followed and the 31-year-old finally feels ready to return.
“Obviously I’m looking forward to it,” he added. “There are a lot of doubts though as well when you’ve not played for a long time.
“Coming back from injury you’re always kind of second guessing yourself. You never know exactly when you’re going to be ready, but I’m looking forward to getting back out there and competing, and hopefully playing well.”
Murray practised at Queen’s on Friday ahead of next week’s Fever-Tree Championships and on Saturday told officials he would be there.
Murray played with fellow Brit Cameron Norrie in a relaxed session on Friday but will have a real step up in opposition when he sees Kyrgios over the net.
“I’ve been practising the last couple of weeks and obviously building up each day. I started playing sets about a week ago,” Murray added.
“So, I played probably seven or eight sets, and I wanted to feel how I felt the following day after playing a couple of sets with Cam Norrie yesterday.
“I got tested by my physios this morning to make sure I hadn’t stiffened up and lost any range of motion in my hip which can happen when you’re tired and the hip’s a bit angry.
“That wasn’t the case. That was all positive and I pulled up pretty well from that, so then I decided to go for it.’
Elsewhere in the draw, another former world No.1 Novak Djokovic will face a qualifier while top seed Marin Cilic faces Fernando Verdasco.