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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Matt Maltby

Andy Murray confirms he WILL compete in Wimbledon after making competitive return

Andy Murray enjoyed a winning return to competitive action on Thursday - and then revealed he will play doubles at Wimbledon next month.

And the former world No.1 and three-time grand slam winner could even play mixed doubles at SW19 if he can find a female partner.

Murray is making his tentative comeback from what he hopes was career-saving hip surgery in the doubles at the Fever-Tree Championships and he partnered Feliciano Lopez to victory over top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah at Queen's Club.

A bumper Centre Court crowd was treated to some vintage Murray as the five-time Queen's singles champion and his Spanish partner ran out 7-6 (5) 6-3 winners.

Andy Murray returned to competitive action on Thursday (Getty Images)

After securing the triumph, the Wimbledon favourite then revealed he will form an Auld Alliance with Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in SW19.

“It was brilliant,” said the former world No.1. “I enjoyed it a lot. I was a little bit slow at the beginning but got better as the match went on.

"I’m very fortunate to be back playing tennis once again. I had said that I wanted to stop at Wimbledon, because I didn't want to play anymore.

"I was getting no enjoyment out of anything. I was at that point in Australia, and I'm sure I'll get there. And hopefully it's a few years away, but we'll see.”

The Wimbledon favourite partnered Feliciano Lopez to victory (Getty Images)

After all the tearful goodbyes in January, it was if Murray had never been away, and his Colombian opponents did not know what had hit them.

Clearly they are a slick doubles partnership, but they could never have imagined facing a duo like three-time grand slam winner Murray and Lopez, himself a singles winner at Queen's, in the first round.

It had only been 143 days since Murray, fearing being forced into retirement, underwent the hip resurfacing surgery.

He and Lopez had never played together, and had barely trained together. Moreover, Murray had not swung a racket in anger in five months.

Queen's Club was packed to watch Murray in action (Getty Images)

The fact that Lopez had been compelled to issue a fierce denial of links to allegations of match-fixing in Spain a day earlier was not ideal preparation either.

But somehow they clicked and at the end of a first set that went with serve, a ferocious Murray forehand clipped the net tape on its way past Cabal and clinched the tie-break.

This was no Wimbledon singles epic, but it was no exhibition either. Murray wanted to win and the familiar fist pump was on display following a succession of winners in the second set.

Now pain-free, Murray was moving fine, serving well and volleying like a doubles specialist. Victory was wrapped up in an hour and 14 minutes.

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