Paul Jubb gets chance to impress Ilkley Trophy fans as Andy Murray makes competitive return

Andy Murray, the former world No 1, has entered the doubles at Queen’s Club with Feliciano Lopez in what will be his first taste of action since undergoing surgery in January.

And at the Ilkley Trophy, 19-year-old Paul Jubb from Hull takes up a wild card to an event that he hopes will be the springboard for the future.

“It’s a great time for me and I’m really excited to be competing at this level,” said Jubb, who last month became the first British player to win the men’s singles title at the NCAA Championships on the American collegiate circuit.

“I’ve played the last two weeks (Surbiton and Nottingham) and it’s great to get another opportunity.

“Ilkley will be another great experience, one which I can use to push myself to another level.

“These are the tournaments, and these are the guys I want to be playing week in, week out.”

The Ilkley Trophy begins today with the final scheduled for next Sunday.

Leading the men’s charge is one of the ATP Next Generation, 20-year-old Ugo Humbert from France, while Australian Jordan Thompson returns to Ilkley for the fourth time.

The last two champions are in the women’s draw.

Magdalena Rybarikova, the 2017 champion who notably went on from Ilkley to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledo that year. and last year’s winner Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic.

Murray, meanwhile, revealed his hip operation has been “life-changing” as he prepares to make his return to competitive tennis.

Next week’s Fever-Tree Championships represent the first tentative steps towards resurrecting a career which Murray feared was over due to a chronic hip condition.

Such was the pain Murray was in he considered quitting the sport on more than one occasion.

So the 32-year-old Scot is relaxed about his prospects of returning to anywhere near the heights which saw him win three grand-slam singles titles.

“There were a number of times over the last 18 months where I did want to stop, I didn’t want to play any more, I was getting no enjoyment out of tennis at all,” he said. “Now, I like playing tennis. I’m a fan of the sport, I played it as a kid and I want to keep playing if I can. I didn’t know how I was going to feel if I went and had the operation but it’s been brilliant, completely life-changing for me from where I was.

“Yes it would be nice to be winning Wimbledon and things like that, but hardly anyone gets the opportunity to do that, and there are loads of players who still love and enjoy the sport without winning the biggest competitions.”

Murray and Lopez will face Colombian top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Kyle Edmund’s first match since he limped out of the French Open last month with a knee injury is a first-round showdown with top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.