Andy Murray excited for his mixed doubles partnership with Emma Raducanu

Andy Murray hopes he and Emma Raducanu will prove to be a dream partnership at Wimbledon.

The high-profile pair were given a wild card into the mixed doubles on Wednesday morning, with Murray keen to wring every last drop out of his final Wimbledon.

Murray famously partnered Serena Williams in 2019, with the duo making it to the third round, and there will be just as much excitement around this pairing.

The Scot revealed it had been several years in the making after they played against each other in a Battle of the Brits event in 2020.

“We’d spoken about it a few years ago during the Covid year, but obviously both of us ended up doing quite well in singles so it didn’t happen,” he said.

“And then yesterday I was chatting to my team, they were discussing mixed and then last night I messaged her coach and just said, ‘Look, do you think this is something that maybe she’d be up for doing?’ He said it was worth asking. I asked her and she said yeah she’d be up for it.

“It should be fun. I have played mixed doubles a few times when I was young and then the last time was with Serena. I really enjoyed it, it’s something we rarely get to do.

“And to get a chance to do it with Emma, well it’s my last chance to do it, so it should be good.”

Raducanu was top of Murray’s wish list once he decided to add mixed to men’s doubles, where is playing with his brother Jamie.

The 37-year-old, who decided against singles following back surgery last weekend, said: “I chatted a bit with my team about it and they said, ‘What exactly are you trying to get out of it?’

“Firstly we want to be competitive in the matches, and then playing with another Brit was going to be something that would be nice, and she’s obviously one of the top British players and she would have been top of the list.”

Raducanu was quick to accept the proposition.

“Thankfully I got quite a quick reply,” said Murray with a smile. “It was quite late yesterday evening when I sent the message, it would have been after nine, so I was a bit worried she might be in bed, but I got a quick reply. She said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it’.”

Raducanu has only played one tour-level doubles match in her career and this will be her grand slam debut but Murray believes she is well suited to the format.

“She’s obviously unbelievably competitive and likes playing in the big stadiums and stuff with crowds so I expect she’ll deal with that really well,” he said.

“A lot of the skills from singles translate well to doubles. There’s a few things that are obviously a little bit different, particularly when you play against doubles players who are doing a lot of crossing, a lot of movement at the net, that’s something that takes a little time to get used to.

“But she’s a brilliant returner and great ball striker so I’d imagine she’ll deal with returning guys’ serves well. And, when she’s getting into exchanges at the back of the court, she’ll be really good.”

Murray and Raducanu will play El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai of China in the first round on Friday or Saturday, with his first-round men’s doubles clash scheduled on Centre Court on Thursday.

The Murray brothers, who will take on Australians Rinky Hijikata and John Peers, tested out their partnership in practice on Wednesday with a competitive set and a half against third seeds Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram.

It is a big day for the British hopefuls on Thursday, with two home derbies on Court One between Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart and Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie, while 22-year-old Jacob Fearnley makes his Centre Court debut against seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.

Published: 03/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

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