Andy Murray suffers ‘disastrous’  defeat in his final warm-up match for Wimbledon

Andy Murray suffered defeat in his final warm-up match for Wimbledon on Wednesday, but did not lose his sense of humour over being left off a poster featuring champions of SW19.

‘It was a disaster wasn’t it?’ smiled the 36 year-old Scot after losing 6-4 6-4 to world number six Holger Rune in the Giorgio Armani Classic held at London’s Hurlingham Club.

Striking a more serious note, he could see why some had objected to the female legends being relegated into the background on the promotional painting that caused controversy last week.

‘I think that was what was slightly strange. I guess the players on the poster have obviously had incredible careers. I don’t think the problem with the poster was me not being on it, personally I don’t really care much about it but I can see when you look at it, it does look a bit strange.’

Despite losing in the first round at Queen’s last week, Murray feels he will go into Wimbledon in the best shape he has felt for six years, having been buoyed by two Challenger titles on grass.

He does not fear Friday’s draw, even if being unseeded meant he was to face Novak Djokovic first up: ‘I would love the chance to play against him again, whether that’s at Wimbledon or further down the line. I was supposed to play against him in Madrid last year and got ill, but I’d like that chance again.

‘I’ve never been the best in practice matches and I think there are some positive signs for me. I don’t think there’s a lot of guys who would want to draw me in the first round. 

‘From a physical perspective I definitely feel better going in than in recent years. In rankings I’m higher than I have been, too, because I’ve been able to compete regularly on the tour for the past 12 months.’

Despite the match being purely an exhibition, Murray was taking it entirely seriously against the gifted 20 year-old Dane. The Scot looked sharp over the first eight, very tight games, but at 4-4 he was punished for mistakes and broken through a double fault.

Billy Harris, the well-travelled Manxman and British number eight, has a shot at reaching the Wimbledon main draw for the first time after battling through to the final round of qualifying.

The 28 year-old world number 346, overlooked for a wildcard, defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston 2-6 7-6 6-4 on Wednesday and will now play a best of five match against 19 year-Serbian Hamad Medjedovic, ranked 156 in the world.

Harriet Dart, Jodie Burrage and Liam Broady all lost in the second round at the Rothesay International at Eastbourne on Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on British involvement there.