The former world No 1 began his grass-court season with victory against Jurij Rodionov at a Challenger Tour event
Andy Murray had forgotten the last time he made it to Surbiton. It was in 2004, he played a guy called Jimmy Wang and he retired hurt. “I slipped and hurt my groin,” he recollected after being prompted. Memories are made of this.
To say that Monday’s event was low key might be understating it. Part of the ATP’s challenger circuit, the Surbiton Trophy sits a tier below the actual men’s tour (but still generates points for the rankings, which is more than Wimbledon can say for itself this year). It is probably the only event Murray will take part in this year with chemical toilets and it also chucked it down most of the afternoon, this being the cusp of an English summer. Despite all that, there remained something heartening about the whole affair.
