London
An emotional Andy Murray made a winning return to Queen’s Club with victory over Benoit Paire at the cinch Championships.
The former world number one, back on the comeback trail following yet another injury setback, was playing his first singles match on grass since 2018.
After completing a routine 6-3 6-2 victory at the scene of five of his title wins, Murray became tearful in his courtside interview.
He began: “The body is old. But I did quite well today in terms of my movement and stuff.
“It was my first match on grass in three years, I’ve only played three or four practice sets in the build-up so didn’t know how I was going to play or feel, so for a first match it was good.
” Murray could maybe not have hand-picked a more accommodating opponent in Frenchman Paire, who had won only two of his previous 17 matches this year, for his latest tentative return. “I love playing tennis,” Murray added, before starting to well up.
“Sorry,” he continued. “Obviously competing is why you put in the hard work and in the last few years I haven’t been able to do that as much as I’d like, so it’s great to be out here and competing again.—AP
