Andy Murray may need to devise a fresh plan of attack ahead of The Championships following his early exit at Queen’s, but the world No.1 remains upbeat about his prospects of finding form in time for Wimbledon.

The reigning Gentlemen’s Singles champion suffered a shock first round defeat by lucky loser Jordan Thompson at the Aegon Championships, leaving Murray without a tour-level win on grass before arriving at the All England Club for the first time in five years. 

“It is a big blow, for sure,” Murray conceded following the 7-6(4), 6-2 defeat. “This tournament has given me great preparation in the past, and when I have done well here, you know, Wimbledon has tended to go pretty well, too.”

Not ideal, then, but no need for panic just yet – simply time to dust off Plan B. After all, he has been here before.

Murray may have won the Aegon Championships a tournament-record five times, but this is not his first early exit at Queen’s. In 2012 he was beaten in his opening match by Nicolas Mahut, then played a couple of exhibition matches at Stoke Park the following week, only to lose to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Novak Djokovic, the defending Wimbledon champion.

The upshot of Murray’s three defeats ahead of The Championships? A run to his first Wimbledon final, where he lost to Roger Federer before returning four weeks later to beat the 18-time Grand Slam champion on Centre Court and claim Olympic gold.

“I haven't been in this position loads,” said Murray, who indicated he would assess his options on Wednesday. “Over the years, it's happened a couple of times, but I will speak to the team, see what I do, if I try and play a few matches at one of the exhibitions next week or not. I wasn't planning on doing that, but that's possible now, for sure.

“It’s not ideal obviously, but guys have in the past also gone in to Wimbledon having not won lots of matches,” he added. “Novak, a number of times, hasn't played any warmup tournaments and played very well there.

“It has happened in the past where guys haven't done well and gone on to do well at Wimbledon. There’s no guarantees that I won't do well at Wimbledon, but it certainly would have helped to have had more matches. That's always been the case for me. At this event when I've got matches, it's certainly helped at Wimbledon.”

Murray is the first to admit that his 2017 season has so far failed to hit the heights of 2016, as he collected his second singles titles at The Championships and the Olympic Games before securing the world No.1 ranking for the first time.

Thompson’s win in west London was the Scot’s ninth defeat this season, as many as he lost in total last year.

Murray’s recent run to the Roland Garros semi-finals after a tough a clay court swing offers cause for optimism about his ability to turn things around at The Championships, but the two-time former champion admits he needs to raise his game over the next 12 days.

“I said before the tournament there was still a lot of work to be done, and after the French Open I knew that I was still quite far from where I needed to be,” Murray said.

“One tournament doesn't change all of what had gone on just beforehand.

“So that's why I got back on the practice court quite soon afterwards, but I was certainly feeling better in the build-up here than I was going into the French – certainly would have expected to have played and done a bit better 

“I don't feel like loads of my game has changed, but obviously right now I'm not playing as well as I was 12 months ago. Most of that comes down to confidence in matches. Playing a lot of matches and winning consistently helps you make better decisions at important moments.”

Whatever path he takes to the All England Club from here, Murray will no doubt hope the best-of-five set tennis awaiting him at Wimbledon will give him the chance to play his way into form when it matters, as it did in Paris. He has reached the semi-finals or better at The Championships in seven of the past eight seasons, and with two titles and an 85 percent winning record, Wimbledon stands apart as his most successful Grand Slam.

“I feel like I can still do very well at Wimbledon, providing I do everything right these next couple of weeks,” Murray added. “I did it at the French, but there is a lot of work to be done. I need to make sure I get that work done and put the time in on the court and in the gym. Hopefully I will turn that around.

“It's certainly possible. I proved it at the French and there are many, many cases of it in the past. There's no reason I can't do well.”