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London - Andy Murray warmed up for the start of his Queen's Club title defence with an unlikely practice partner as he took to the court with David Beckham's son Romeo.
Murray arrived at Queen's Club in west London over the weekend and the world number two found time to hit a few balls with Beckham's offspring before getting down to the serious business of preparation for the grass-court campaign.
Former Manchester United and England star Beckham is a friend of Murray's and has watched him play at Wimbledon on several occasions, so the Scot had no problem taking a break for a friendly session with 13-year-old Romeo.
"I knew Andy was down here because I spoke to him earlier. But we were just coming down to see if there was any practice going on before the tournament starts. It was something that was a big plus for Romeo," Beckham said on the Aegon Championships podcast.
"Romeo's a member here now. So we came down to see a few of the guys practising and obviously it's great for him.
"He was playing against me this morning! So it's tougher now against Andy!"
With Murray bidding for a record fifth Queen's Club crown this week ahead of the start of Wimbledon, the two-time Grand Slam winner, who has rehired Ivan Lendl as a member of his coaching staff, will be firmly in the spotlight over the next month.
And Beckham believes there is no better role model for his tennis-mad son and any other youngster dreaming of a sporting career.
"He (Romeo) retired at the old age of 13 from football and now he's happy hitting a ball around on the tennis court, he plays four or five times a week and he enjoys himself," Beckham said.
"When you look at role models, you want them to be passionate about the sport, passionate about what they do, to play hard all the time, and Andy's one of those players.
"It's great for any young kid to have great role models in sport and Andy's definitely one of those for many kids around the world."
As well as helping feed his son's tennis addiction, Beckham has kept an eye on England at Euro 2016 and he backed Roy Hodgson's side to beat Wales in their second group match on Thursday.
"I watched it at home with the kids. I think the performance was great. Obviously the goal at the end was unfortunate and if we'd got another goal and been two up, then we'd have been raving about the performance," Beckham said.
"They played with the passion that the fans want to see and played with energy, going out there and not caring so much about being on a big stage. That was good to see.
"I think we'll beat them (Wales) but I don't think it's going to be easy because Chris Coleman has done such a great job.
"They've got such a great, strong team spirit so it's going to be a challenging game."
Monday's action at Queen's Club was delayed due to rain just before French fourth seed Richard Gasquet could begin his first round clash with Steve Johnson of the United States.
Murray is scheduled to play his first match against France's Nicolas Mahut on Tuesday.
All images: Getty
