Andy Murray refused to commit to competing at Wimbledon next week despite securing his first victory in almost a year when overcoming Stan Wawrinka at the Nature Valley International.

The former world number one, who returned from hip surgery only last week, convinced in defeating Wawrinka 6-1 6-3 in only one hour and 17 minutes, suggesting he remains capable of being competitive at the All England Club where in July 2017 he secured his previous win.

A Grand Slam would instead present him with the potential challenge of five sets at a time when he has so far lost to Nick Kyrgios over three and overcome his Swiss opponent in two, but having shown signs of progress he said: “My health and my body are my priority right now.

“I will make that decision when I’m ready. If I feel like I’m in good enough shape, I’ll do it. If I don’t, then obviously I won’t play. I’m coming back from a very serious injury which is not easy.

“I’m not putting any pressure on myself to make that decision after one match here or two matches, because I don’t need to. I can decide when I want.

“The match with Nick was two hours 45 minutes, and the slams, you have to be prepared for four hours. That (against Kyrgios) obviously could have gone another couple of sets potentially, and I didn’t feel great the following day.”

In the second round on Wednesday he will face Kyle Edmund, and for the first time perhaps not be the favourite against him.

The promising Edmund succeeded Murray as British number one while he remained injured earlier this year, and the 31-year-old said: “I don’t care so much about those sort of tags, but certainly a lot has changed since the last time we played.

“It’s a really good test for me. I would have played, in the space of a week, 10 days, three excellent players. Another match against someone as good as Kyle is a really positive thing for me.”

Of his earlier victory over Wawrinka, he added: “I expected to be happier, but it was obviously good to get the win against someone who is as good as Stan.

“I always thought like when I came back that I would be more pumped for every single win. But the reality was it’s the first round of an event and it was great, but obviously want to do more than that.

“Sometimes you build things up so much in your head that when it actually happens it’s not as big a deal. As I have gotten older, I haven’t had the fluctuations and the ups and downs like maybe I would have done.

“I was more emotional before my first match last week than I was (against Wawrinka). That’s where kind of all the emotions were and a lot of the doubt.”

Elsewhere in the opening round in Eastbourne, Spain’s David Ferrer defeated Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-5 6-3, Briton Jay Clarke overcame America’s Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-1, and Jared Donaldson defeated fellow American Taylor Fritz 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 7-6 (7/3).

There were also victories for Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, via a 6-3 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/4) scoreline against Italian Andreas Seppi, and John Millman of Australia, who overcame Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-2.