THREE hundred and forty-two days. When Andy Murray was last spotted playing competitive tennis, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un were still sworn enemies, Meghan Markle was little more than an aspiring US TV actress and Harvey Weinstein just a high-flying film executive.

Yet here he was at Queen’s Club, eleven long months, a few false starts, 156 spots in the world rankings, one royal wedding and one new sponsor of these championships later. While his opponent Nick Kyrgios eventually came through 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5, the best thing that could be said is that at points during this match it was almost as if he hadn’t been away.

The Scot will be sore this morning alright. Towards the end of the match, with him clutching his lower back, the exertions of the first two sets seemed to be catching up on him. But this was precisely the kind of test he needs to determine whether he is ready to go again at Wimbledon, which begins in just under a fortnight.

Queen’s Club is a venue pregnant with good memories for the former World No 1. Not only do the Scot’s five wins make him the most successful player in the history of the tournament, he also took loan of the place for a day a few years back to earn shedloads of cash for the Royal Marsden cancer unit in tribute to his pal Ross Hutchins. But even by those standards, emotions were running high as Murray trotted out on court for the first time just before 4pm yesterday – with little sign of last year’s painful limp from those hip problems – to a standing ovation from the well-heeled people of West London.

Now 31 and a father of two, Murray had spoken movingly in recent days about the ‘zero expectations’ he had of himself coming in, both at these inaugural Fever-Tree Championships and at SW19. While he still feels he can grind his way to more Grand Slams, the main goal yesterday was simply enjoying tennis again and coming through the match pain-free. This, hopefully, he seemed to do. But much like England at this year’s World Cup in Russia, it doesn’t take long for title hopes to swell in the summer sun. Especially as the Scot has a far more convincing recent record at coming away with silverware.

There had been oohs and aahs in the draw room when these two friends were paired together in the first-round. Kyrgios, a man nursing his own hip problems since last year’s Wimbledon, was clearly in decent nick, going within a few points of taking the scalp of Roger Federer in the semi-finals of Stuttgart at the weekend. But when Murray said that in some ways the erratic Aussie was a perfect first opponent what he meant was that his big-serving, unpredictable, flashy style would keep the amount of lengthy points to a minimum, consequently putting less strain on that untested body of his. So it proved as Kyrgios delivered a perplexing afternoon’s play, albeit one which engrossed a capacity crowd here.

As for the Scot, while there were a few errant shots here and there, this was a reminder that class is permanent. His first first serve of the day betrayed signs of nerves, flying a metre wide. He then stopped himself midway through an errant ball toss, but as soon as the ball was in play he was striking it cleanly, slapping away for a forehand to get the first point on the board. Albeit with a degree of struggle, he held his first three service games before Kyrgios started to get into self-destruct mode.

At times pirouetting, walking or skipping into the net to put smashes away, or throwing two ‘tweeners’ in the one rally, the Australian’s concentration on this match seemed to ebb and flow. Slapping down first serves at 140mph was all very well, but sending down second serves at 135mph at times with seemingly little disregard for whether they went in or not was a recipe only to lose that first set. Murray might have been out a year, but his instincts remained sharp.

The second set was crucial, the Scot restoring parity at 4-4 and almost recovering from 3-0 down in the breaker. But the third set was attritional and it was Kyrgios who just had the upper hand. Murray had saved two break points magnificently by the time a double fault gave Kyrgios his first win in six attempts. “It is great to see him back, great to see him healthy,” said Kyrgios. “I asked him at the end of the match if he was finally okay and he said yes. It is great to finally get a win against him but I can’t really count this one. He is a legend of the sport, he played every bit as well I expected he would.”