Norrie set to face Wawrinka on opening day at Queen's

Posted: Jun 17, 2018

2018 Fever-Tree Championships on the BBC
Venue: Queen’s Club, London Dates: 18-24 June
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, Connected TVs, the BBC Sport website and app.

British number two Cameron Norrie will play three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka at Queen’s Club on Monday.

Andy Murray, making his comeback after a year out with a hip injury, plays Australian Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday at the Fever-Tree Championships.

Kyle Edmund, who has replaced Murray as British number one, meets American Ryan Harrison the same day.

Twelve-time major champion Novak Djokovic faces Australian qualifier John Millman, also on Tuesday.

Fifteen of the world’s top 30 male players, plus Murray, Djokovic and Wawrinka, are competing in the west London tournament, although 18-time Slam champion Rafael Nadal and world number four Juan Martin del Potro have withdrawn.

You can follow all the action on the BBC across television, radio and online.

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Murray, Djokovic but no Nadal – who else is playing?

Queen’s is set to have the strongest line-up in its 128-year history with 15 of the world’s top 30 taking part.

The tournament is seen as an important marker for players in their build-up to Wimbledon, which starts on 2 July.

It is also an ATP 500 event, the third tier of tournaments on the men’s tour below the Grand Slams and Masters, giving them opportunity to earn a significant number of ranking points.

Former Queen’s champions, Croatia’s 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic and reigning ATP World Tour Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, are among the top-10 players appearing.

Cilic, the top seed, plays 2013 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Fernando Verdasco on Monday.

The first match on Queen’s Centre Court sees highly-rated Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov play veteran Gilles Muller, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year.

Murray nervous before return

Scot Murray, who has dropped to 157 in the world rankings, has not played competitively since Wimbledon last year and had hip surgery in January.

He admitted he will be nervous when he returns to action at Queen’s where he has won the title a record five times.

“There are a lot of doubts when you’ve not played for a long time,” he said. “I’m expecting to be very nervous when I go back out there.

“Coming back from injury you’re always kind of second guessing yourself. You never know exactly when you’re going to be ready, but I’m looking forward to getting back out there and competing, and hopefully playing well.

“I’ve obviously got lots of great memories from here, from winning the tournament and playing here the first time when I was 18. I’m sure I’ll have the same nerves and stuff as I did all those years ago.”

Djokovic back at Queen’s

Djokovic is playing at the Queen’s Club for the first time in eight years, having suffered injury problems this season.

The former world number one had said he may skip the grass-court season after losing in the French Open quarter-finals to Marco Cecchinato.

But he has now accepted a late wildcard for Queen’s and said it would be “great preparation for Wimbledon”.

The Serb also said he hopes to see Murray, against whom he has played seven Grand Slam finals, return to the top of the game, adding that “tennis misses” him.

Edmund on British ‘buzz’

The tournament sees Kyle Edmund play the British grass-court events as British number one for the first time, having replaced Murray in March.

“Throughout year we travel so much so it is nice to be home and play in front of a home crowd and get that support. It’s a really buzz,” said Edmund, 23, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open in January.

“Attention has picked up,” he added. “You get used to it and learn how to deal with it in your own way, but I get on with it and see it is a good problem.