TENNIS •Rickys Picks • Queen’s Club • FEVER-TREE • Andy Murray Begins Comeback vs. Friend Nick Kyrgios

By Ricky Dimon

 

This week’s Fever-Tree Championships event is as it good as it gets for a 500-point tournament on the ATP World Tour. But the highlight is–without question–Andy Murray’s return to tennis.

 

Murray will be playing for the first time since Wimbledon when he competes at Queen’s Club, starting on Tuesday afternoon. The former world No. 1 has been out for almost a full year due to a hip injury, forcing him down to No. 156 in the world with points remaining only from a 2017 quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon.

 

Simply being on the court is good news for Murray, but he can take additional encouragement from the fact that he is 30-6 lifetime at this London-based event with five titles. The bad news is that he has an especially tough grass-court test on his hands against good friend Nick Kyrgios.

 

“I’m not putting pressure on myself to win,” the 31-year-old Scot assured. “I’m more concerned with how I feel on court…. There are a lot of doubts when you’ve not played for a long time. I’m expecting to be very nervous when I go back out there.

 

“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.”

 

“I was excited by the draw and I’m excited to see him back competing,” Kyrgios commented. “He’s awesome for the tour. I’m the best guy for him to play coming back after injury. I’m very encouraging and playing someone you know and are good friends with is easier when you’re coming back.

 

“But I obviously I want to win.”

 

Winning the whole title will be especially difficult for everyone in the draw, because the Queen’s Club field is loaded. It also includes seeds Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kevin Anderson, and David Goffin. The unseeded contingent is even more amazing: Murray, Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles Muller, Frances Tiafoe, and Daniil Medvedev, among others.

 

Ricky’s picks

Quarterfinals: Marin Cilic over Sam Querrey, Milos Raonic over Kyle Edmund, Kevin Anderson over Daniil Medvedev, and Novak Djokovic over Tomas Berdych

Semifinals: Cilic over Raonic and Anderson over Djokovic

Final: Cilic over Anderson

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.