AS productive a week as Andy Murray enjoyed at Queen's Club last week, it is this coming seven days where the seeds for his Wimbledon challenge will really be sown. Rather than resting on the laurels, the World No 2 was already practising at the All England Club yesterday, as he fine tunes his game under the watchful eye of coaches Ivan Lendl and Jamie Delgado. In certain previous years Murray has chosen to play exhibition events at Boodles or the Hurlingham Club in the week leading up to Wimbledon but the consensus is that a solid week of practice - with two days of rest built in - is the perfect preparation for his bid to win a second singles crown at SW19.

In football parlance there is always an imperative to train the way you play and there certainly wont' be any messing about from the World No 2 on the practice court. "The next eight days or so is very important," said the 29-year-old. "If you're just not engaged in the practice or not mentally there for the practice then you're not really gaining anything from it. Also if you don't have any direction on the practice court, or there is no clarity in what you're doing, then you are just kind of hitting balls but you're not really aware of what you're working on, what shots or patterns of play you're trying to get better at.

"So there is a bunch of things that go into it," he added. "The No 1 thing is that you're engaged in the practice, you're asking questions, trying to learn and that you work hard. My job for the next week is to do that.

"But also to rest - I need to take that seriously as well. I can't just practice every single day for four hours and think I'll be absolutely fine at Wimbledon. On these rest days I don't do any physical work. I don't go to the gym. Just a full rest day. Sometimes I maybe see my physio for 45 minutes or an hour to get stretched, or if something is bothering me to have him look at that. But most of the time it's just being around the family, going for a walk with the dogs, doing normal stuff away from the court.

"Tuesday and Saturday is the plan just now but it depends on the weather obviously a little bit. It's meant to be bad a few days next week, so I will have to make some adjustments potentially."

Leon Smith, who had moved onto the AEGON event in Nottingham yesterday as he casts an eye over some of the other potential members of his Davis Cup team, said the manner in which his former pupil had hung in there from a set and a break down against the big-serving Milos Raonic of Canada merely emphasised what an example he is to young players coming through in the sport."The moment where he broke the Raonic serve with that astonishing backhand return was incredible," said Smith. "His ability to start getting a read on the big servers is incredible. At first he wasn't quite getting a read on it, but as soon as he got one, his confidence started going up and even off first serves he was absolutely cranking them back. Fair play to Raonic as well, because he brought a lot to the match, but you can only watch in amazement at how Andy can dismantle a big server like that.

"In terms of the fight, the grit and determination, he manages to find something within himself, the ability to come back and just hang in there," the Davis Cup captain added. "He does it time and time again and we are so lucky to have him because the attributes he displays are perfect for young kids growing up to learn from."