Andy Murray concedes he would rather be on the same side of the net as his brother Jamie after the Wimbledon doubles draw threw up the prospect of a family affair.
The three-time grand slam singles champion has made a successful comeback to competitive tennis over recent weeks following hip resurfacing surgery earlier this year.
He won the men's doubles at the Queen's Club Championships alongside Feliciano Lopez, before a less-successful excursion at Eastbourne in harness with Marcelo Melo.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert will partner the former world number one at SW19, while Jamie Murray – a two-time slam winner in men's doubles - is in the same side of the draw, playing with Neal Skupski.
An all-Murray encounter in round three in possible and Andy Murray told a news conference he expected such talk to dominate the build-up to his Wimbledon return.
"Even if we were separated on opposite ends of the draw people would be talking about us playing in the final," he said.
"We've got to win matches first. I think if we [Andy Murray and Herbert] get through our first one we're due to face the sixth seeds in the second round.
"If we play against each other, obviously it would be difficult in some respects, competing against your brother in the biggest tennis event in the world.
"I'd rather be on the same side of the net as him, but it's cool if we did get the opportunity that we'd be doing it on the biggest stage in our sport as well, which would be nice."
Andy Murray reiterated his intention to play mixed doubles over the coming fortnight, although he is yet to confirm a partner – Serena Williams the latest name floated, albeit possibly in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
The 32-year-old acknowledges his presence will act to raise the profile of the doubles competitions and suggested more could be done by tennis' authorities to encourage regular participation from leading singles players.
"I grew up watching quite a bit of doubles myself. When the top singles players are involved in the doubles, it does draw a little bit more attention to it," he added, citing John McEnroe's exploits in both formats.
"It would be a positive thing for tennis if more guys were playing doubles, but here it's difficult, because of the format, because of the best of five sets.
"Even for me, just playing doubles here, it's even a consideration if I'm going to play mixed as well. So I would never expect a top singles player to enter the doubles here because playing potentially 10 sets in one day is just too much.
"That's something that maybe would be worth looking at, to give more value to the doubles event and to get more of the top singles players playing, is to reduce the length of the matches a bit."
