Tennis

Emma Raducanu explains what she can learn from playing with Murray at Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu revealed she could not refuse the “once in a lifetime opportunity” of playing mixed doubles with her “hero” Andy Murray at his final Wimbledon.

And the two British Grand Slam champions are set to kickoff a Super Saturday of sport before England play Switzerland at Euro 2024.

Raducanu last night reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since her 2021 US Open triumph. But she has only ever played one Tour-level doubles match in Washington in 2022.

Murray still approached her coaching team on Tuesday night about teaming up – and then texted the British No.3.

And Raducanu said: “My doubles record is not the longest but I couldn’t say no. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s a dream of mine since I was a young girl watching the Olympics.

“Andy’s a hero to us all, so for me it’s a real gift and a real honour that he asked me. I’m just super excited and hopefully I can learn a thing or two about coming to the net or something.”

Murray, who played mixed doubles with Serena Williams here in 2019, said: “I am pumped. To get the opportunity to play with her will be brilliant. It’s something we rarely get to do. The last time was with Serena. I played with Laura Robson at the Olympics.

And it’s my last chance to do it with Emma, so it should be good. I think the fans really enjoy it when there are two players they know and can get behind. 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. It should be fun.”

The Scot said the wildcard pairing came together at the “last minute” and discussions with his team.. Murray said: “Firstly we want to be competitive in the matches. And then playing with another Brit as well is something that would be nice.

“She’s obviously one of the top, top British players and she would have been top of the list.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button