Andy Murray's hopes of successfully defending his Wimbledon crown
Britain's finest heads to Wimbledon as world No 1, but question marks remain over his form
By Sky Sports Tennis
It's the burning question on
all our lips: can Andy Murray find his form on grass to retain his
Wimbledon title and remain as world No 1?
Just when he seemed to have turned the corner by reaching the semi-finals of the French Open, a first-round loss to No 90 Jordan Thompson at Queen's Club seems to have set him back to square one.
The Scot is looking to equal another Fred Perry landmark by winning his third
title at the All England Club, but he has 2,000 points to defend from last year while his closest challenger Rafael Nadal did not play the tournament because of wrist problems, so he knows he must win the title to guarantee keeping top spot in the rankings.
Murray's dominant form of the second half of last season certainly seems like a distant memory when he rallied to titles in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Paris and ended a phenomenal run by clinching the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals at The O2.
Highlights of the ATP World Tour final as Murray claimed the scalp of Djokovic to end the year as No 1
This year his record stands at 21-9 while the French Open is the only tournament at Grand Slam or Masters level where he has reached the quarter-finals.
Highlights from the Rome Masters final in 2016 as Murray beat Djokovic in a memorable match
Andy Murray in 2017
| Doha (Final) | Lost vs Novak Djokovic |
| Australian Open (Round of 16) | Lost vs Mischa Zverez |
| Dubai (Final) | Won vs Fernando Verdasco |
| Indian Wells (Round of 64) | Lost vs Vasek Pospisil |
| Monte Carlo (Round of 16) | Lost vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas |
| Barcelona (Semi-Finals) | Lost vs Dominic Thiem |
| Madrid (Round of 16) | Lost vs Borna Coric |
| Rome (Round of 32) | Lost vs Fabio Fognini |
| French Open (Semi-Finals) | Lost vs Stan Wawrinka |
| Queen's Club (Round of 32) | Lost vs Jordan Thompson |
| Win-Loss | 21-9 |
The main issues in 2017, not helped by his injury and illness problems, have been his inconsistent serve and wayward forehand. The forehand was a problem in his defeat by Australian lucky loser Thompson this week at Queen's. He is not hitting his serve as confidently or placing it as well and that is costing him.
Last year he won 76 per cent of first-serve points and 54 per cent on his second serve. This year those figures are 72 and 52, and he is winning only 78 per cent of his service games compared to 85 per cent in 2016.
His forehand, meanwhile, has lacked penetration and been far more unreliable than during the past three or four years, when it improved markedly
Another Murray victory at Wimbledon is certainly not out of the question. The Grand Slams, with their best-of-five-sets format, offer more breathing space and have consistently favoured the leading players.
Murray will have a good stretch of time to try to iron out the problems with coach Ivan Lendl starting with two exhibition matches at Hurlingham before Wimbledon on July 3.
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