Murray enters Surbiton Trophy to aid Wimbledon preparations

Andy Murray will step up his Wimbledon preparations on Monday when he faces Austria number one Jurij Rodionov in the first round of the Surbiton Trophy.

The three-time grand slam winner is back at the ATP Challenger Tour event for the first time since 2004 after he elected to skip the ongoing French Open.

Murray, who recently hit out at suggestions Wimbledon will be like an exhibition due to the lack of ranking points on offer this summer, will take on an opponent who has won two ATP Challenger titles this year and is ranked number 125 in the world.

It will be the first meeting between the pair and also the opening match of Murray's grass-court campaign, with his last competitive encounter at the Madrid Open on clay almost four weeks ago.

The Briton secured an impressive victory in three sets over Denis Shapovalov on May 3 to set up a much-anticipated clash with Novak Djokovic but had to pull out due to illness.

Sunday is the official start day for the Surbiton Trophy, which was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but only qualifying will take place before the main draw begins on Monday, with Murray set to be the thirdmatch on centre court.

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Murray says Wimbledon "will never feel like an exhibition" in response to comments by Cameron Norrie and Naomi Osaka, who suggested players may not turn up due to ranking points being removed.

Russian and Belarusian players were last month banned from competing at this year's Wimbledon due to the invasion of Ukraine, a decision which both the WTA and ATP criticised.

As a result, Wimbledon then had its ranking points stripped by the ATP and WTA due to the barring of Russian and Belarusian