Murray suffers new Wimbledon setback
Andy Murray’s fractured build-up to Wimbledon continued to raise concern yesterday, when he pulled out of his planned exhibition match at the Hurlingham Club with a sore hip.
While the news might seem to fit into a pattern of illness and injury surrounding Murray, the decision was described as “precautionary” by his camp. In fact, it probably had more to do with potentially slippery conditions than any serious fitness issue.
As it happened, the rain that blanketed south-east England probably would have forced a cancellation of his scheduled contest with Lucas Pouille in any case.
So Murray continues to be frustrated by a lack of matches. After his first-round exit from Queen’s – where he played without urgency or conviction in a straight-sets loss to little-known Australian Jordan Thompson – yesterday’s cancellation was another setback to his title defence at Wimbledon.
Murray is still planning to return to the Hurlingham, in south-west London, on Friday for one last attempt at a practice match. Even so, he will go into Monday’s ceremonial unveiling – where the reigning men’s champion traditionally opens the Centre Court schedule – in serious danger of being undercooked.
The bookmakers still have Murray as second favourite, behind the imperious Roger Federer. This is based on his outstanding record on grass, his most successful surface statistically. Yet while his movement on the lawns is superior to most of his rivals’, his ball-striking has lacked its usual conviction all season.
The French Open, where he reached the semi-finals 2½ weeks ago, provided his best showing of 2017 to date. But even there, his eventual conqueror, Stan Wawrinka, said: “Last year he was stronger. Today I think he’s less confident. He played a bit less fast. He was a little more hesitant, and that gave me a bit more time.”
It is not as if Murray has been completely out of action. On Monday, he trained at Wimbledon’s Aorangi Park with fast-rising teenager Denis Shapovalov. Yesterday, his hitting partner was Grigor Dimitrov, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2014. So he is not lacking for quality in his practice sets. But his lead-in to the year’s biggest tournament is still leaving a lot to be desired.
Novak Djokovic was also frustrated by the weather yesterday, as the Aegon International in Eastbourne was restricted to a few minutes’ play. Djokovic had just enough time to manage a scratchy service hold – which included two double faults – against the big-hitting Canadian, Vasek Pospisil, before the drizzle began to fall. By late afternoon, the whole schedule was abandoned.
Meanwhile, Dan Evans has lost his kit sponsorship as part of the fallout from his positive test for cocaine, which is likely to result in a two-year ban.
The Italian sportswear company Ellesse struck a deal with Evans in March, after it emerged that he had been wearing unbranded shirts on his run to the fourth round of January’s Australian Open.
But yesterday it said that it “cannot condone the lifestyle choices he has made and [we] are therefore withdrawing his sponsorship”.