Tears flow as Murray gets grand goodbye he deserves
Three-times grand-slam champion has only Emma Raducanu partnership to go at SW19 after he and brother Jamie lost in first round of men’s doubles on Centre Court
Andy Murray has least one more Wimbledon match to come in the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, but this was the send-off. After playing with his brother Jamie at the All England Club for the first and last time, he deservedly took the acclaim of his family, friends, rivals and many fans as he walked off Centre Court in near darkness.
Murray is likely to return to the most famous tennis court in the world on Saturday, but Wimbledon organisers took no chances in case of any injuries before then. With retirement beckoning later this summer after the Olympics, an emotional 20-minute farewell ceremony was held to say goodbye to one of Britain’s greatest athletes.
The result in the first round of the men’s doubles did not go Andy’s way as he and Jamie lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to Australia’s Rinky Hijikata and John Peers, but that was quickly forgotten. Of more significance was the attendance afterwards of players both past and present, with Novak Djokovic, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Tim Henman, Lleyton Hewitt and Jack Draper all standing on court to pay tribute. Even Sue Barker was brought back out of retirement to host proceedings.
Inevitably there were tears. Andy had to compose himself several times as Barker recapped off some of his great career moments. The 37-year-old particularly struggled to get the words out when paying thanks to those closest to him for sticking by him throughout his remarkable rollercoaster career.
“It’s been hard for all of us,” Andy said. “The injuries have been tough and we have worked extremely hard to be on the court, probably not at the level we wanted. But we tried.
“It is hard because I would love to play on but I can’t. Physically, it’s too tough now. All of the injuries, they have added up, they have not been insignificant. I want to play forever, I love the sport, it has given me so much, taught me loads of lessons over the years. I don’t want to stop; so it’s hard.”
There were some lighthearted revelations added to the mix. Referencing the boozy celebrations after his second Wimbledon triumph in 2016, he admitted: “I did unfortunately vomit in a cab on the way home.” There was also a mention of his first date with his wife Kim back in 2005.
“Me and Kim first met when I was 18 in New York,” Andy said. “We went out for dinner at the US Open. I choked the first time. I walked her to her hotel and asked her for her email address.”
Never before has there been such anticipation for a first-round men’s doubles match. This was the first time a contest at this stage of the draw had taken place on Centre Court since 1995, and few members of the 15,000-capacity crowd were complaining that it had taken up the third slot in the traditional three-match singles schedule.
Andy and Jamie emerged to a standing ovation, with sustained applause and cheering for about two minutes. Two of Andy’s four children - Sophia, eight, and Edie, six - were among those on their feet in the player box, which was full of family members, friends and old acquaintances invited to witness this special occasion.
Compared to his practice sessions in recent days, Andy looked in better physical condition during the first couple of games. While he did not feel fit enough to contest the singles on Tuesday after undergoing surgery on a spinal cyst ten days previously, doubles is less taxing on the body as players are generally required to cover only half of the court.
This did not prevent the odd grimace or two. Andy looked a little sore in the third game after missing a forehand, reaching to touch his back in discomfort. After stretching it out a few times, it looked to ease up as the first set progressed.
As is often the way in doubles, all of the first 12 games were won by the serving team to take the set to a tie-break. The Australians were the first to get their noses in front when Peers played an angled forehand return winner to go 4-3 up with the mini-break, but Jamie responded with a forehand return winner of his own two points later to pull it back on serve.
A booming serve from Andy brought up the first set point at 6-5, which was saved by a Peers volley. Two minutes later the Murrays had lost the set when Hijikata converted a first set point on the other side with a forehand winner in between his two opponents.
This sucked the life out of the atmosphere for a few minutes before the cheers returned when three break points were saved on Andy’s serve in the first game of the second set. This was a crucial hold as the Murrays broke serve in the next game for a 2-0 lead, with Andy roaring “come on” after hitting a precise forehand return to the feet of Peers.
A poor service game from Jamie followed, immediately handing back the break. He was then heard saying “light” to the umpire, with darkness starting to descend upon the court at 8.20pm. Had the match gone to a third set, the floodlit roof would have been called into action but another slack game on serve by Jamie to go 4-3 down significantly reduced the prospect of this.
Peers and Hijikata then comfortably closed out the match at 5-4 to bring to an end the Murrays’ last outing on court together.
“It was really special,” Andy said. “We never got the chance to do it before. But the way things worked out, there was a chance. Jamie asked me and it was a race against time to be out here. It wasn’t easy physically. I am glad we were able to do this one last time together.”
There was a hint of what may come in the future. Andy admitted that he “did not enjoy commentary” for the BBC during his absence from the sport in 2018, and acknowledged that he would “probably be more comfortable sitting in the coaching box”. Most importantly, though, he had his family in mind.
“The kids have been waking me and my wife up at 5am for the last eight years,” Andy said. “They will continue doing that. They wanted a piggyback the day after my back surgery. They have been amazing. I really look forward to spending more time at home with them.”
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