Injury problems of little concern for Murray as he eyes Wimbledon assault

The British No 1 arrived at Queen’s Club on the back of his best French Open performance, which ended in a semi-final defeat to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

Murray finished the tournament on painkillers after damaging a tendon in his right ankle and he will need medication to get through this week and, potentially, Wimbledon.

The Scot is also frustrated by the lack of preparation time after Roland Garros – but he came through a long grass-court workout on Monday and last night’s doubles match with brother Jamie, which saw the siblings lose 3-6 4-6 to Malisse and Ken Skupski.

Murray, champion at Queen’s in 2009, will then launch his bid to regain the title against Malisse today, having been given a bye into the second round.

“It was my best French Open so I am pleased with that,” said Murray.

“I felt I was a bit patchy throughout the tournament but I was finding a way to win, especially in sets where I was behind.

“I came back a lot in matches which is something I hadn’t been doing before the clay-court stretch, which is good.

“Winning matches when you are not playing your best is really important.”

Playing on grass throws up a whole set of new challenges for Murray. His right ankle, like his left, will now be heavily strapped when he takes to the court.

Murray trod gingerly as he got used to the grass conditions and he spent much of Monday’s session working on his volleying game.

“It’s not enough time, that’s a fact,” he said.

“It will be two days of practice and then you’re straight into the tournament. The surfaces are completely different, the balls are completely different. The only negative about doing well at the French Open is that you have less time to prepare for the grass.”

Malisse, who made a solid start to his grass-court season with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Matthias Bachinger yesterday, insisted he would not be looking to exploit Murray’s suspect ankle.

“If he’s playing, it means he’s good to play. I don’t think he’ll take too many risks with Wimbledon coming up,” said the Belgian, who is ranked 40 in the world.

“If you think too much about the other person you don’t play your own game and you miss shots.

“Of course he’s the favourite on paper, plus he’s playing at home. I don’t have much to lose.”

Malisse took a set off Murray at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome earlier this year but he is yet to beat him in three attempts.

“We had a good match in Rome a couple of weeks back. I went for shots in that match and I’ll definitely have to play aggressive (today).”

British No 2 James Ward enjoyed the biggest victory of his career to date when he beat Stanislas Wawrinka, who is ranked 202 places above him at 14 in the world, in straight sets.

Ward won the first set 7-3 on a tie-break before holding his nerve to serve out a 7-6 6-3 victory against the fourth seed and will face defending champion Sam Querrey in the third round.

“It was probably not my best tennis – I played better at Eastbourne last year – but obviously this is the best win of my career so far,” said a delighted Ward.

Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, making his first appearance on grass in nearly two years, opened his campaign with a 6-4 6-2 victory Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.

Del Potro missed most of the 2010 season with a wrist injury and dropped to 484 in the world but he is now ranked 22nd.

The 6ft 6ins Argentinian broke Istamin three times in the first set and twice in the second to book a second-round match with Igor Kunitsyn.

Nadal will face Matthew Ebden in the second round after the Australian qualifier beat India’s Somdev Devvarman 7-5 6-3.

Third seed Andy Roddick, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and seventh seed Fernando Verdasco also progressed into the third round with varying degrees of difficulty.

Roddick, the four-time former Queen’s champion, had to battle past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes, with Lopez serving 35 aces.

But the American, playing for the first time in a month after pulling out of the French Open with a shoulder injury, recovered from a break down in the deciding set to clinch the win.

Verdasco found his passage through to the third round rather easier as he cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win against Nicolas Mahut while Tsonga despatched Michael Berrer 6-0 6-1.