London - Andy Murray can still win Wimbledon despite his recent poor form, according to former British No 1 Greg Rusedski.
Murray fell to a shock defeat in the first round of the Aegon Championships on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to Australian world number 90 Jordan Thompson.
The loss came less than two weeks before the start of Wimbledon and leaves Murray short of opportunities for match practice ahead of the season’s third grand slam.
It also comes as Murray is struggling for form this season, the world No 1 has lost nine times already this year, his only recent run being to the semi-finals at Roland Garros, where he lost in five sets to Stan Wawrinka.
Rusedski, though, said that the defeat is nothing to worry about.
“Everyone is blowing it out of all proportion,” said Rusedski.
“It’s one match. At the end of the day this isn’t Wimbledon. He has another 10 days left before he has to open up the tournament so we shouldn’t read too much into this.
“It means he’s going to get a bit more practice time, he’ll be able to get on the grass at Wimbledon, which is a little slower, and on top of that the conditions are not going to be as hot. I really think Andy is going to be fine.”
Murray has yet to enter another tournament in a bid to get some match practice on grass, something both he and Novak Djokovic have done in the past, but that isn’t a concern for Rusedski.
“I don’t see the lack of matches as a problem,” Rusedski said.
“He’ll just go play a few exhibition matches. Novak has won Wimbledon before without playing any matches leading in and Rafa has done the same, so let’s all not panic about it.
“The other thing as well is it’s three out of five sets at Wimbledon. In a two out of three match at Queen’s a guy can beat you but the best players tend to come out on top in those longer battles.”