Andy Murray believes players with “terrible attitudes” are “not deserving” of Wimbledon wildcards.
Murray dispatched qualifier Lu Yen-hsun in his first-round Aegon Championships clash, then backed the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for scrapping recommendations Wimbledon should award wildcards to players ranked inside the world’s top 250.
Wimbledon bosses the All England Lawn Tennis Club will confirm the first batch of wildcards for this year’s SW19 showdown, moving as usual on LTA guidance.
After easing past Lu 6-4 7-5, Murray praised the LTA for removing the top-250 guideline wildcard qualification limit he views as arbitrary.
“I think it’s good to do that,” said Murray of the LTA’s shift in stance. “Some guys can have some injury troubles, some guys could be ranked inside 250 and have terrible attitudes, and maybe it’s not deserving.
“Some guys play much better on grass than others so may have more of an opportunity to win matches.
“And then also when you have some young guys now, an 18-year-old or 19-year-old that’s ranked 280, 300 in the world, that’s very good for their age: they’d probably be in the top six or seven in the world in their age if that was the case.
“So I have no problem with it being done on an individual basis rather than having a set criteria.”
The Scot will face Fernando Verdasco in the second round on Thursday, still hungry for success wherever possible.
“This year I want to perform better in more events,” said Murray, with one eye on Wimbledon.
“You’re not going to win every tournament but the more opportunities you have to play in finals and semi-finals against the best players, it’s beneficial when you get to major competition.
“I want to do well here because I feel that’s the best preparation for Wimbledon.”
The reward for seeing off Verdasco would most likely prove a quarter-final clash with defending champion Grigor Dimitrov, who dumped the Scot out of Wimbledon in the last eight last year.
Bulgarian Dimitrov, a 4-6 6-3 6-4 winner over Sam Querrey yesterday, admitted “I feel like I own the court” every time he steps out at Queen’s after returning to defend his crown.