WIMBLEDON: Much like the past 18 months of his life, Andy Murray’s experience at the Wimbledon Championships on Saturday had both its high and low points.
It began on Saturday afternoon on Court One. Teamed up with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the duo had a second round date with eight seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor. A Croatian duo who won the Monte Carlo Masters title back in April. Getting off to a positive start, the British-French team eventually went out 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Dashing Murray’s chances of adding to his men’s doubles title won at the Fever-Tree Championships last month.
“It’s not a blow really in the grand scheme of things. I know you guys (the media) were talking about winning the doubles, winning mixed doubles, playing 12 matches in 11 days, things like that.” Murray said during his press conference.
“I was aware that that wasn’t going to be the case most likely. We played against a really good team today that are ranked 5 or 6 in the world. Mektic’s won a few Masters Series in the last year.”
Wimbledon is only Murray’s third tournament since undergoing a second hip operation earlier this year. A procedure that was conducted in a bid for him to be able to continue his career. Fortunately, the hip pain is no more for Murray with his only concern being the odd bout of back pain.
Whilst his journey in the men’s doubles has ended, another one has just started at The All England Club. In a night-time match on Center Curt, the former world No.1 made his eagerly awaited debut in the mixed doubles alongside Serena Williams. Playing in a near-capacity stadium with Henman Hill also full of spectators, Murray and Williams downed Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi 6-4, 6-1, with relative ease. A solid performance by two people who had previously never played alongside each other before.
“It was a great experience being back on Centre Court with Serena after the last year or so is tough. It was nice. I enjoyed it.” Said Murray.
“Maybe weren’t as clinical as maybe we’d like to be. Again, that comes with matches a little bit.” He added.
On a day when the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also played, it was the mixed doubles clash that many were looking forward to. Even Williams, who is a 23-time grand slam champion with over $88 million in prize money earnings, felt the pressure that was placed on the two.
“At some point, I started feeling a lot of pressure. I have to do well because this match is so hyped that I want to see it.” She explained.
“I didn’t even want to be in it, I kind of just wanted to watch it. Maybe I’ll try to get a video of it or watch it somewhere.”
After playing their first match together, there is one area of Williams’ game that impresses Murray the most – her serve. Something he complimented her on during his tribute. This year is the first time the American has played mixed doubles at Wimbledon since winning the title back in 1998.
“The most impressive thing for me is the serve. Just getting free points a lot on the serve, which isn’t always the case. In mixed it makes my life at the net a lot easier.” He said,
“The thing that’s impressive as well is after the amount of success that someone like Serena has had for such a long period, to still be out there 8:00 at night, having already won a singles match, and just wanting to win and being competitive. That’s impressive.”
Saturday at The All England Club was a turbulent day for the British player, who managed to end the day in glory. Murray will return to the court on Monday when he and Williams play Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo.
