Andy Murray's chances at Wimbledon remain unaffected despite early loss at Queen's Championship, says Andy Roddick
Andy Murray suffered a first-round loss to seventh seed Alex de Minaur in the 2023 Queen's Club Championships on Tuesday, June 20.
In a post-match discussion on the Tennis Channel, former tennis star Andy Roddick opined that the opening-round exit will not affect the Briton's chances at the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.
He highlighted that Murray, who underwent hip resurfacing surgery in 2019, had come into the tournament after winning back-to-back Challenger titles in the span of two weeks, which could be taxing for any player.
"I don't think it changes too much. [Playing] that many matches in two weeks, winning back to back titles, is tough when you have two good hips. I can only imagine it's extra challenging when you have one good hip like Andy Murray," Roddick said.
Roddick also pointed out the difference in surfaces at the Queen's Club Championships and Wimbledon despite both tournaments being on grass.
"Andy compared the surface that he was playing on last week at the Challenger to Wimbledon, which to my mind means, maybe it's a little bit slower. So, even though it's the same surface, when you look at it, like grass is grass, it doesn't always work that way. This is a faster surface," he added.
He touched upon various other topics in the discussion including backing defending champion Elena Rybakina as his favorite for the 2023 Wimbledon title.
Andy Murray to be unseeded at Wimbledon 2023
Andy Murray's hopes of being seeded at Wimbledon came to an end with his first-round exit at the 2023 Queen's Championships.
The former World No. 1 had skipped this year's French Open. He opened his grass season with a bang, with back-to-back titles at ATP Challenger events - the Surbiton Trophy and the Challenger Nottingham.
With a 10-match winning streak, the two-time Wimbledon champion had a chance of being a top-32 seed at this year's Wimbledon had he reached the quarterfinals of the Queen's Championships.
In a post-match interview, when asked if his seeding chances were on his mind while playing, the World No. 38 replied:
"I knew I was pretty much either going to have to make a final here if I didn't do well in Surbiton and Nottingham, or if I won both of those events, it was looking like at least a quarter-final to do it,” Murray said.
“I was aware of that before all of the matches that I played the past few weeks.”
The 2023 Wimbledon will be the 10th of Andy Murray's career.