Novak Djokovic declared Andy Murray is capable of winning Wimbledon despite dispatching his rival in the final warm-up for SW19.
World number one Djokovic prevailed 6-4 6-4 at The Boodles in a rain-delayed exhibition match that the players clearly viewed as a glorified practice session.
Murray has now lost all three of his grass-court outings in preparation for Wimbledon, but Djokovic is still convinced the 25-year-old can challenge for the title.
"Andy's chances are always strong. Maybe the media is too hard on him for not winning a Grand Slam, but he's a quality player," the top seed at SW19 said.
"He's an all-round player who can play on all different types of surfaces.
"He's been in the semi-finals of Wimbledon three times, he just needs a little bit of luck and a good day when he plays big matches."
Murray was happy with his build-up to Wimbledon, despite his lack of success on court topped by his first-round exit at the AEGON Championships last week.
"I think my preparations have gone very well," said the Scot. "Queen's was obviously disappointing, but here the results weren't important at all.
"I'd have liked to have done better at Queen's, but after that I had a couple of good practice matches over at Wimbledon and had a couple of matches here as well. It's been good."
Djokovic, the reigning champion at SW19, concurred that the results at Boodles were unimportant and is content with his own grass-court preparations.
"What happened here does not really matter too much. We came here to have some good match practice before Wimbledon," he said.
"Playing with Andy was great for both of us. For me it was even more important because I didn't play in any tournament in the opening week of the grass court season.
"I'm happy with the way things are going. I feel good on grass and I have a couple more days to get ready.
"I like to focus on every year separately but I'm satisfied with the way I'm feeling. I'm striking the ball really well.
"It takes a little bit of time to adjust because clay is the slowest surface in tennis, whereas grass is the fastest.
"It's different types of moving, but I'll be ready in a couple of days."
Djokovic has won five Grand Slam titles - four of them since January last year - and is hungry for more success.
"It's my life, I'm in love with this sport and have dedicated everything to tennis," he said.
"I won Wimbledon last year and became number one in the world, something I always dreamed of achieving.
"I can't complain about my results and I've had a fantastic career, but I still feel that there are plenty of years to come.
"I have lots of motivation left and every day when I wake up I want to improve and win more tournaments."
In the day's other match, Juan Martin Del Potro led Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1 2-5 when rain ended the clash.
