Paris pain made me love tennis even more - Murray

World number two Andy Murray admits missing the French Open with a back injury made him realise how much he loves tennis.

Murray was forced to withdraw from Roland Garros after aggravating a recurring back injury during the Rome Masters in May and he only returned to action this week at Queen’s Club.

The US Open champion found it hard to be away from the thick of the action as he watched from home as his rivals compete for the French Open title.

But his time on the sidelines had one benefit, it strengthened his love of the sport and has made him more determined to savour every moment now he is back on court.

“I think it can be easy to take things for granted sometimes,” Murray said.

“You know, I played pretty much every Slam for about seven years and I missed it. It was difficult watching and not being there.

“You realise how much you love competing and you love being around the tournaments.

“When everything is good and you’re healthy and you’re playing every week you don’t often think about it that much.

“And when you’re away from it and you miss one of the biggest tournaments, one of the tournaments you prepare extremely hard for and put the hard work in for, then it’s tough.

“I was really looking forward to getting back on the court again and hopefully I can have a good week.”

With his appetite for the game stronger than ever, Murray is beginning to set his sights on Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks, and he admitted he was pleased with the way his back coped with the strain of a gruelling double header at Queen’s on Thursday.

Murray had to complete two matches in one day after heavy rain on Wednesday left the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event behind schedule.

But there were no signs of rust as he came through a potentially draining pair of matches.

First he finished off the second set of his second round match against France’s Nicolas Mahut in 43 minutes to complete a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win and then he returned to court just over three hours later to demolish Australia’s Marinko Marinko Matosevic 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

“I feel good. That was what was most pleasing about the matches,” Murray said.

“There was a lot of stops and starts on Wednesday, having to warm up and cool down and stuff.

“But everything felt good and I woke up this morning with no real stiffness, which is good.

“I thought I moved pretty well. Normally the first couple of matches here the court is quite slippy, and that’s something I have struggled with the last few years.

“This time I haven’t slipped down once. That has been a good sign.”

There is little time for Murray to rest as he is scheduled to play Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the quarter-finals on Friday.

But after reaching the Wimbledon final and then winning Olympic gold at the All England Club last year, Murray’s confidence level when playing on grass is sky high against any opponent.

“I probably feel a bit more confident coming into this grass court season because of how I played on it last year,” he said.

“I think because I managed to win some big matches and play well on the grass last year, I know what I did well and what I need to keep doing.”