Andy Murray revealed his mother-in-law suspected he might have shingles after telling the world number one to pull his pants down so she could inspect a rash during dinner.

The three-time grand slam champion was already irritated following a fourth-round defeat to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open and experienced further discomfort after returning from Melbourne.

Murray told reporters after his first-round victory over Malek Jaziri at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday that his mother-in-law's diagnosis proved to be spot on.

"I had a little bit of a rash basically like on my bum round to kind of my stomach and it wasn't terrible. But then normally if you have a little bit of a rash and you scratch it, it feels better. But with that, it was really, really painful," said the Briton.

"I didn't think much of it at the beginning and then it was actually my wife's mum, we were having dinner, and I was like, 'This is really irritating'. She was, like, 'Pull your pants down. Show me. It might be shingles.'

"I was, like, 'okay'. Then the next day, got a doctor, and she was right."

Top seed Murray saw off Jaziri 6-4 6-1 in his first match since losing on Rod Laver Arena and said his health problems are behind him.

"The rash is completely gone now and I felt fine when I was training. I don't think I'd be able to do what I was doing out there this evening if [I still had it]," he said.

"A lot of people said that afterwards, once the rash is gone, that you can feel very tired for quite a few weeks, a number of weeks afterwards.

"I was maybe a little bit more tired than usual at the beginning, but I really feel fine now."

Next up for top seed Murray in Dubai is a clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.