Andy Murray suffers shock first-round defeat to Jordan Thompson at Queen's

Murray was beaten 7-6, 6-2 by the 'lucky loser' who had stepped in to replace the injured Aljaz Bedene

Andy Murray looks on after his shock defeat (Getty Images)

The start of a new grass-court season provides challenges for even the very best players and the only consolation for Andy Murray in defeat here in his opening match at the Aegon Championships was that he was in good company.

After losses for Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic in their first matches, Murray made it a hat-trick of defeats for the top three seeds when he was beaten 7-6, 6-2 by Australia’s Jordan Thompson, the world No 90.

Murray, who has won this tournament five times, said it was “a big blow” to lose his first match on grass just 13 days before the start of Wimbledon. On the two previous occasions when he has triumphed at the All England Club, in 2013 and 2016, Murray won the trophy here in the build-up.

Although the world No 1 appeared to have turned a corner at the recent French Open after a difficult first five months of this year, he insisted: “I said before the tournament that there was still a lot of work to be done. After the French Open I knew that I was still quite far from where I needed to be. One tournament doesn't change everything that had gone on just beforehand.

Andy Murray struggled for form his opening round defeat (Getty Images)

“That's why I got back on the practice court quite soon afterwards, but I was certainly feeling better in the build-up here than I was going into the French. I certainly would have expected to have played and done a bit better.”

In the last five years the only player with a lower ranking than Thompson to beat Murray was Vasek Pospisil, the world No 129, who surprised him at Indian Wells earlier this year.

Perhaps an even more worrying statistic is that one of the modern game’s great returners failed to break his opponent’s serve for the first time in 137 matches. The last time Murray failed to break serve was against Roger Federer in Cincinnati in 2015.

Thompson, moreover, is no Federer. The 23-year-old Australian had not even been in the draw until a few hours before this match, but Aljaz Bedene’s late withdrawal because of a wrist injury let him in as a “lucky loser” from the qualifying tournament.

Thompson was called into the tournament at the 11th hour (Getty Images)

Although a solid ball-striker with a decent serve, Thompson is the sort of player you would normally expect Murray to beat with something to spare. However, this is the Australian’s third tournament of the current grass-court season - which he began by reaching the final of the Surbiton Challenger - and while he looked comfortable on the surface, Murray struggled.

Murray made a regular stream of errors, rarely threatened to break serve and all too often played the wrong shot. While Thompson grew in confidence after winning a tight first set, Murray appeared increasingly out of sorts. It was a worrying performance from a man who had lost only one match on grass since the summer of 2014, when he was beaten by Federer in the 2015 Wimbledon semi-finals.

Having said that, it would be wrong to sound the alarm bells too loudly. Although Murray has won this title five times, he has also suffered some surprising early defeats at the tournament. Janko Tipsarevic, Radek Stepanek, Mardy Fish and Nicolas Mahut have all spoiled his Wimbledon build-up in the past, but he has nearly always gone on to find his form at the All England Club. Besides, even Federer lost his first grass-court match of the year last week.

“I feel like I can still do very well at Wimbledon, providing I do everything right these next couple of weeks,” Murray said. “I obviously did it at the French, but there is a lot of work to be done. I need to make sure I get that work done and put the time in on the court and in the gym. Hopefully I will turn that around.”

Thompson looked comfortable from the start (Getty Images)

He added: “It has happened in the past where guys haven't done well and gone on to do well at Wimbledon. There are no guarantees that I won't do well at Wimbledon, but it certainly would have helped to have had more matches. That's always been the case for me. At this event when I've got matches, it's certainly helped at Wimbledon.”

In some years the conditions here have been damp and cold, making them particularly challenging, but this time they could hardly have been better. The temperature was approaching 30C on a gloriously sunny afternoon, there was little wind and the grass was not as slippery as it can be at the start of the tournament.

Thompson had the only break points in the first set – three of them in the second game – but when he double-faulted to go 3-1 down in the tie-break it seemed likely that Murray would take charge. However, the Australian proceeded to take six of the next seven points. Murray saved the first set point with a service winner but on the second he put a high backhand into the net.

When Thompson went 0-40 down in the second game of the second set the hopes of Murray’s supporters rose, but Thompson served his way out of trouble in emphatic fashion. They were Murray’s only break points of the match.

At 2-2 Murray went break point down when he hit a forehand long and on the next point his lob also went beyond the baseline. At 2-4 he was broken again and after an hour and 43 minutes Thompson secured the best win of his career with his 12th ace.

“He played better than me,” Murray said. “I didn't create loads of chances. I didn't return particularly well. He served big. He served well.

“I’ve had more than enough time to get used to the conditions. I’ve been practising for the last seven or eight days. I’ve been playing well. I practised pretty well. I was happy that I got a lot of time on the practice court. I trained a lot from Monday to Thursday, and then I was playing some sets in the last few days and was doing OK.”

Murray said he had not been planning to compete anywhere next week but would now consider playing some matches at exhibition events. He said he would discuss his pre-Wimbledon plans with his entourage on Wednesday but said he had not considered entering the Aegon International at Eastbourne.

The first two matches of the day on centre court had also produced surprises as Wawrinka and Raonic both fell at the first hurdle. Wawrinka, who has never looked at his best on grass, was beaten 7-6, 7-5 by Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, who loves this surface, while Raonic lost 7-6, 7-6 to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, who has played only four tournaments in the last 18 months because of a succession of injuries.

With so many big names gone, tournament organisers will be glad that the last three days here are sell-outs, with just a handful of tickets remaining for the next two days. Rafael Nadal pulled out last week, Nick Kyrgios retired hurt yesterday and all the remaining home players lost today without winning set between them.

James Ward, who is returning to competition after eight months out with knee trouble, was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Julien Benneteau, Cameron Norrie lost 6-1, 6-4 to Sam Querrey and Liam Broady, a late replacement for the injured Pierre-Hugues Herbert, went down 6-4, 6-4 to Jeremy Chardy.