Murray to take cautious approach

Andy Murray admits he will tread carefully in his first match at the Aegon Championships after confirming that he will play the traditional Wimbledon warm-up at Queen’s (Murray 4/1 with bet365 to win Aegon Championships).

The British number one faced a tricky choice of whether to rest the ankle that he injured en route to the French Open semi-finals or play at Queen’s to get accustomed to the faster grass courts ahead of the SW19 tournament.

The Scot chose the latter and will face either Xavier Malisse or Matthias Bachinger in his first match on Wednesday, and will be looking for another solid display in west London after claiming the title in 2009.

Murray is one of the favourites to win Wimbledon but is up against some stiff competition, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all in superb form going into the year’s third Grand Slam (Nadal 2/1 fav with bet365 to win Wimbledon).

The three-time Grand Slam finalist was determined to play this week to prepare for another title at Wimbledon glory, but he admits that he will have to take extra care in his first few matches or run the risk of further damaging his troublesome ankle.

“It takes time (to adapt to grass),” he said. “I just need to be careful because the grass, even though it’s the best here, is very slippy at the beginning of the tournament.

“I just want to feel comfortable underfoot and then go for it. I don’t want any uncertainty.”

Nadal reveals Wimbledon plan

Rafael Nadal says he will play in the Queens Club tournament next year as part of his preparations for another Wimbledon success (Nadal 6/4f with Stan James to win Wimbledon 2011).

The world number one only this month became the seventh player to win all four Grand Slam titles, but is already preparing for 2011.

Having won at Queens in 2008, Nadal (9/2 to win no Grand Slam titles in 2011) has decided to play in the AEGON Championships again in order to kick start his grass-court campaign.

The two-time SW19 winner admits he “loves” playing at the Queens club and that he is made to feel “very welcome” by the British people.

The Spaniard added: “After the French Open, it is very important for me to feel the grass under my feet as soon as possible.”

The next target for Nadal (7/4f to win 2011 Australian Open) will be to hold all four major titles at the same time, which he can achieve by winning in Melbourne in January.

Murray out at Queen’s

Andy Murrays thoughts can now turn to Wimbledon  (Murray 11/2 to win Wimbledon with Stan James) after his third-round exit to Mardy Fish at the Aegon Championships.

The match was locked at one-set all and three games all when the umpire suspended play on Thursday evening, prompting a furious outburst from the Scot, who felt conditions were fine to continue and Fish wanted to stop as the momentum was now with Murray.

Fish defended the umpires decision and denied that he had put undue pressure on the official.

“It was extremely dark last night, I told the chair umpire at 3-2 it was pretty dark, so we played one more game. I didn’t do any pleading or anything, he said.

The players came out on Friday and won their respective service games to set up a final-set tie-break.

The British number one secured a mini-break early on but that was as good as it got, as the American found his form at the right time to take it 7-2 and run out a 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-2) winner at Queens.

Fish will now face Michael Llodra for a place in the semi-finals and is the 4/7 favourite with Stan James to advance to the last four, with Llodra on offer at 11/8.

Murray will now have a little extra time to prepare for his assault at SW19 (Roger Federer 11/8 fav with Stan James to win Wimbledon) as he bids to become the first British winner of the mens singles since Fred Perry in 1936.

The world number four reached the semi-finals in west London last year but lost to an inspired Andy Roddick and he will hope to improve on that this year with the vociferous support he will receive from his home fans.