Andy Murray insists he will still be able to compete against the very best at Wimbledon despite his gruelling early summer winning streak coming to an end at Queen’s.
The Scot was comfortably beaten 6-3 6-1 by Australian world No.18 Alex De Minaur at the LTA’s cinch Championships, halting his 10-match unbeaten run that saw him win both the LTA’s Lexus Surbiton Trophy and Rothesay Open Nottingham over the past fortnight.
The defeat also likely spells an end to any hope of Murray receiving a seeding for Wimbledon, meaning a tough draw likely awaits the two-time champion at SW19, but the 36-year-old is confident he will be ready for whatever comes his way.
“Right now the priority is to take a few days rest, physically and mentally recharge a little bit and then go to work on my game,” said Murray.
“The last few weeks there have been lots of positives, I served very well across the two weeks, that wasn’t so much the case today but it is something I will definitely work on.
“I don’t want to overanalyse today. There are definitely some things I can do better but at the same time I have done lots of good things over the last couple of weeks and I want to keep going in that direction.
“I felt okay going into the match, I just didn’t play very well.
“I did pretty much everything that I could do give myself the best chance of playing well. You have to find a bit of balance, I probably would have liked to practice for a bit longer yesterday but you do that and you probably take a bit of energy out of the next day.
“I won the tournament last week without dropping a set, only lost one set in Surbiton, was holding serve comfortably, was moving well so there are a lot of positive signs there.
“I know my level is there to compete with the top players, I just need to take a few days and get a good week or 10 days work in and I am sure I will be playing well on the first Monday of Wimbledon.”
Murray arrived at Queen’s knowing a run to the quarter-finals would likely raise his ranking enough to secure a Wimbledon seeding, but De Minaur was ultimately too strong, breaking midway through the first set before running away with the second despite Murray saving three match points.
It means only injuries and withdrawals can help Murray, who is ranked No.38 in the world, secure a seeding but the three-time Grand Slam champion revealed he is not overly concerned about a potentially difficult draw in the knowledge that few players enjoy playing on grass as much as him.
“I knew what the situation was going into the grass season in terms of which tournaments I was going to play and pretty much what I was going to have to do,” he added.
“That didn’t really change, I knew I was pretty much going to either make a final here if I didn’t do well in Surbiton or Nottingham or if I won those events, it was looking like at least a quarter final to do it.
“I was aware of that before all of the matches I have played these last few weeks. I dealt with it fine the last two weeks so I don’t think it had any bearing on how I played today.
“There are less players that are comfortable on the surface than clay or hard courts. Some of the seeded players are maybe not that comfortable on the grass so there are some draws that are better than others.
“But there are also some guys like Jordan Thomas who are not seeded who love the grass courts and it’s their favourite surface so we will see what happens when the draw is done.”
Murray’s defeat means just two British players remain in the men’s singles draw, with wildcard Liam Broady also suffering defeat on Tuesday.
Broady found himself a set up and a break to the good against Adrian Mannarino was slowly reeled in by the experienced Frenchman, who broke decisively at the end of the second set before eventually winning 1-6 6-4 6-3.
Elsewhere, there was no plain sailing for world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz, as the Spaniard fought back from a set down to eventually edge past lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech 4-6 7-5 7-6(3).
And the 20-year-old admits his expectations are low this grass court season as he looks to gain more experience on the surface. He said:
“Honestly my expectations for this tournament are not too high. I have played two tournaments on grass in my [senior] career. It was two Wimbledons,
“I have played just five or six matches [on grass] in my career. I have to put in the hours on grass and have more experience.”
But while Alcaraz was run close, there were no upsets on the second day in West London with second seed Holger Rune setting up a second-round tie against British wildcard Ryan Peniston with a 7-6(4) 7-6(3) win over Maxime Cressy.
There was also a straight sets victory for third seed Taylor Fritz who beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-4 7-5, while compatriot and fourth seed Frances Tiafoe joined him with a 6-2 6-4 win over Botic van de Zandschlup. Fifth seed and British No.1 Cameron Norrie faces Australian Jordan Thompson in the second round on Wednesday.
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
