DEFENDING champion Andy Murray marched into the second round of Wimbledon then told everyone to stop worrying about his wonky walk.

The only time the World No 1 betrayed any ill effects of the hip problem which has dogged him in the build-up to this year’s Championships as he made light work of lucky loser Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan by a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 scoreline yesterday was when he appeared to be limping back to the service line between points but the 30-year-old said last night that he was feeling fine and that is probably just his normal gait.

“I don’t think I have the smoothest walk at the best of times,” said Murray. “Because my hip has been sore and everyone is talking about it, everyone thinks I am walking with a limp. I am not in pain when I am walking on the court. I don’t know if that’s something that’s come over the last couple of weeks when my hip’s been sore. Or if I’ve always done it, and everyone is sort of saying I’m walking that way because of my hip.

“But my hip felt good,” he added. “It’s a little bit sore, but I was moving really well on the court today. You know, that’s the most important thing. If you’re in a little bit of pain, but you can still run as you normally do, then that doesn’t affect how you play. It’s when it’s affecting your movement and some of the shots that you play when it becomes a problem.”

As difficult as anything in the course of an entertaining encounter on Centre Court against Bublik as maintaining his concentration and stopping himself stiffening up during two rain delays, the first for 30 minutes and the second for 45. Perhaps to avoid boredom, the two men exchanged friendly words in the locker room, something of a rarity in the world of professional tennis.

“I was fine until the rain breaks,” he said. “I felt pretty locked in, and was concentrating really well. It’s just tricky when you stop for 10 or 15 minutes, then go back out, play a game, stop again. You’re in a good position, and maybe if you don’t have the break, you you keep the momentum. But sometimes, something like a rain delay, that can change the match. It’s normal maybe to feel a little bit more stressed or tense in those moments. But apart from that, I felt good.”

The crowd had come to see the reigning champion, but this brash 20-year-old from St Petersburg had bounded on Centre Court as if he owned the place, taking the acclaim with the kind of swagger which the roll call of Russian rap stars in his players’ box must have approved. Bublik, one of the ATP Tour’s NextGen stars, had recounted a staged exchange at Indian Wells where he insisted upon calling the Scot ‘Sir’ but the scoreboard read plain old ‘Andy’ as the Scot played at SW19 as a knight of the realm for the first time.

The first point belonged to Bublik, courtesy of a stylish approach and punchy volley, and nearly the first game too, gasps from the crowd marking the Kazakh carving out two break points on Murray’s serve straight away. But the Eminem fan gradually lost himself in the moment, his ambitions undermined by 12 double faults and too much in the way of bad decision-making.

By contrast, while the Scot has all the shots he real magic of his play is its consistent, solid excellence. By the time he held his nerve to save three unlikely break back points as he served for the second set, the World No 1 was never in danger of registering his first loss to a player ranked outwith the world’s top 100 in the slams.

At least Bublik didn’t appear too disheartened by it all. The two men exchanged a fist bump at the net after one exchange and even shared a chat in the locker room when those showers hit SW19.

“We were waiting to go out at the beginning of the third set,” said Murray. “When I got interviewed by him in Indian Wells earlier in the year, I had asked him how his match had gone there and he said ‘oh, I served like 20 double-faults’. He asked if I had any advice for him so I said: ‘try not to serve 20 double-faults’. It was funny – rare that you speak to someone during a match.”