Andy Murray Celebrates Milestone 1000th ATP Match With Queen's Club Victory

Andy Murray celebrated his 1,000th match on the ATP Tour with a hard-fought victory over Alexei Popyrin at the Queen's Club Championships on Tuesday. The 37-year-old became the fifth active male player to reach quadruple figures for tour-level matches, marking the milestone with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win to end a four-match losing streak.

Murray holds the record for Queen's titles with five and aims to advance further in this tournament when he faces Australia's Jordan Thompson in the second round. The two-time Wimbledon champion acknowledged the challenges of his lengthy career after this first-round triumph, though he admitted he was unaware of the landmark moment until just before play.

"I didn't realise, but my mum told me before the match that this was my 1,000th match on the tour," Murray said in his on-court interview. "A lot of matches and a lot of wear and tear on the body, and it is not easy, but I managed to push through."

A milestone moment for Murray as the fifth active male to compete in a 1,000th tour-level match.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, and Richard Gasquet are the other active men's players to reach the 1,000-match mark. This longevity has served Murray well, who won his first match at the tournament in 2005 and holds a 32-9 record at the ATP 500 grass-court event since.

"During the match, it is difficult but great reward at the end for the hard work and effort I put into the match," Murray added. "I have not got too many wins this year; it has been a difficult season but did well to come through in the end. Held quite a few tight service games and managed to serve it out well."

Alex de Minaur overcame Murray at Queen's last year en route to the final before losing out to Carlos Alcaraz, who also secured the Wimbledon title afterward. However, De Minaur will not have the chance to make it to the showpiece of this Wimbledon warm-up this time around after losing to Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian swept aside the second seed with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory, setting up a second-round meeting with Brandon Nakashima.