GUESS who’s back. Two years after he limped out of a Wimbledon

quarter-final, and six months after the tennis world lined up in Australia to bid good luck in his happy retirement, Andy Murray was making himself at home again last night on the most exclusive lawns in world tennis. 

This was men’s doubles, on Court No.1 – a match which ended with the novelty factor of him playing under the roof on that court for the first time. But Andy was back, the fun was back, and it was unmistakably back to business. 

Indeed, for someone who is known for wearing his emotions on his sleeve, the Scot was remarkably matter-of-fact about it all last night. Asked if there was a moment where he paused at any stage to consider the wider significance of it all, and his journey back from the brink, he flatly denied it. “Sorry, but no,” he said. “There wasn’t really. I mean, I was just playing and enjoying being on the court, but it was obviously brilliant to be back. A really nice atmosphere towards the end of the match.”

If there were painful memories of that quarter-final defeat on one leg to Sam Querrey, they had been banished somewhere far away.

“It was definitely more fun than, well, 2017,” said the 32-year-old. “That was not particularly enjoyable, but every time I’m on the court now, it’s great. I’m just playing tennis again. Pain-free, healthy: it’s nice. It’s what I have enjoyed doing since I was a kid. At times over the last few years, I was not getting any enjoyment out of it. The fun is back. Hopefully my hip will feel good for a while.”

There were a few first-night nerves, mind you. Nick Kyrgios had seen him in the locker room before the match and ribbed him about being so unsure of how the conditions would play that he had five different pairs of shoes. 

There was also a minor mis-step or two, not least as he surrendered his very first service game of the match. But ultimately this was a sure-footed opening display with no slip-ups. In fact, by the end of this 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 win with French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert against Marius Copil of Romania and Ugo Humbert of France, it was as if he had never been away.

Having said that, watching the epic unfolding on Centre Court yesterday between Nick Kyrgios and Rafa Nadal prior to going out on court – then listening to the oohs and aahs of the crowd – had only whetted his appetite about what should hopefully be a return to the sharp end of singles action sooner rather than later. 

“We were watching that match together in the warm-up area before we went out to play,” said the Scot of Nadal’s bruising battle with Kyrgios. “There was some interesting stuff going on out there, and I mean, I have thought about playing singles again,” he added. “It’s something more recently since I’ve been back on the court, there’s been more discussions with my team. I’ve been asked about it by some of the guys in here. Hopefully it’s not too far in the future.”

The competitive juices were

flowing all right during this match, just not quite as they used to.

“Once you get on the court, I’m still very competitive,” he said. “When I go on the match court to compete,

I want to win. I prepare properly. It just feels different than what it did before. I don’t know if that will change over time or if it will stay the same but I don’t have huge

expectations. Winning is nice, but it’s not the most important thing, which maybe it used to be.”

There were a few teething problems to be ironed out. Herbert, a man who has all four Grand Slam doubles titles on his resume as part of his hugely successful partnership with his countryman Nicolas Mahut, is the Scot’s third different doubles partner in three weeks – after Feliciano Lopez at Queen’s Club and Marcelo Melo at Eastbourne.

“It is difficult,” said Murray “But I think that match does a lot of good. We spent kind of two and a half hours on court with each other. We got better as the match went on. I think that’s the one thing that’s nice about the five-set doubles format, is you have time to work things out.

“There were nerves,” he added. “But that’s a good thing. I’ve normally always found in singles, I like to be nervous. I like feeling the pressure because it shows that you care and you want to do well.”

Would he be in pain tonight? With his first-round mixed doubles

encounter in the company of Serena Williams scheduled for this evening? “With my hip? Nothing,” he said. “My back gets a bit stiff playing doubles. It’s just quite different movements on the grass. You’re kind of in a crouched-over position a lot when you’re up at the net, which is kind of different to what I’ve always trained and been used to playing singles but I won’t have anything in my hip. Why should I? It’s metal. There’s nothing to hurt there anymore.”

On a collision course in this competition with his brother in the third round, Jamie Murray’s first-round match with new partner Neal Skupski was postponed with the No.10 seeds leading Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3.