Former doubles star Peter Fleming has said Andy Murray will be ‘dangerous’ at Wimbledon but that there are other stronger contenders in the men’s singles draw.
Murray reached his first grass-court final since 2016 last week, losing to Matteo Berrettini in three sets in Stuttgart.
The Scot has slowly rehabilitated after injury put the breaks on the three-time Grand Slam champion’s career, and he showed glimpses of his best in Germany as he beat world No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios on his way to the final.
He is set to play Wimbledon, where he was champion in 2012 and 2016, despite withdrawing from Queen’s.
Yet while Murray is among the stronger grass-court players on the tour, former world No. 8 Fleming believes he will fall short at SW19 due to the strength of the opposition.
“I think that Andy is a danger, he is definitely the sort of guy that nobody is going to want to play, but to expect him to win seven matches, best of five sets, that is asking a lot at this point don’t you think?” said Fleming during commentary at Queen’s.
“I would put [Novak] Djokovic above him, if [Rafael] Nadal plays he goes up there. I wouldn’t put him above [Matteo] Berrettini.”
Murray has struggled in recent years as he tumbled down the rankings in his absence from the sport.
But Fleming doesn’t believe it makes a difference whether the Brit is seeded or not, and that players will fear him in the early rounds.
“I don’t think that it matters that much whether he is seeded or not because he has played all these matches, he should be sharp going into his first-round match,” he added.
“If he had to play a seed in the first round, nobody is going to want to have to do that. No one is going to want to play him, so if he wins that match, because he would expect to beat a lot of seeds, now he is right in the seeds draw.
“If you are going to go deep you are going to have to beat a seed at some point.”
