WEDDING TAKES N01 SPOT FOR MURRAY

ANDY MURRAY arrived back in Britain yesterday restored as world No 3 in the new rankings — but set aside thoughts of that to focus on his wedding in Dunblane this weekend. Despite his recent tournament finishes getting him back near the top of the game, the 27-year-old Scot confirmed it will be a down-to-earth guest list when he marries Kim Sears in his home town on Saturday. There are believed to be well over 100 people attending, but star-spotters will find celebrities in short supply as the couple focus on celebrating with family and genuine friends. ‘There’ll be no celebrities as such. I don’t have any celebrity friends so it wasn’t something that was planned,’ said Murray, before he flew back after his Miami Open final defeat by runaway world No 1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday. The one possible exception is comedian James Corden, although he is busy working in America. There will be quite a few friends who are prominent in British tennis — aside from anything, Kim’s father Nigel has been one of the country’s leading coaches — but with the Monte Carlo Open beginning next Monday, the bigger international names were always going to be otherwise engaged. In fact the only non-British player likely to attend is Jean-Julien Rojer, a doubles specialist from the Dutch Antilles who has a base in Miami. ‘Jules lives there and I spend quite a lot of time with him. Tim (Henman) will be coming. James Ward, Jamie Delgado (longstanding British player and coach). We invited Kyle Edmund but he can’t make it because he’s playing,’ said Murray (right), who confirmed the couple will not cash in on photography rights to any magazines. Other tennis guests include former assistant coach Dani Vallverdu and two of his three best men, brother Jamie and former Davis Cup player Ross Hutchins. The third is Carlos Mier, a friend from his days at the Barcelona tennis academy he attended. ‘Everyone who we’re close to, people we’ve spent a lot of time with in the past and people that we see ourselves spending time with in the future. That’s how we came up with the list,’ said Murray. Rather than asking for wedding gifts, the couple have requested that guests make a donation to charities they support such as UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund. ‘I’m going to go to Scotland early and spend time with my family for a couple of days. I’m not going to hit any balls this week. Pretty much everything is done now and under control. I’m sure a few things will come up. Kim has pretty much controlled most of the important things and I’ve tried to help when she’s asked. I haven’t been overly involved but there’s things I enjoy doing. I did all the food and cake tasting, which I actually loved.’ There will be no honeymoon until later in the year. In the middle of next week Murray will head to Barcelona to train with incoming assistant coach, former Swedish player Jonas Bjorkman, before resuming his tournament schedule the week after that in Munich.

BRITISH No 1 Heather Watson suffered a first-round defeat by Croatia’s Donna Vekic at the clay-court Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA. The 16th seed lost 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.