Murray drawn with Wawrinka for next step of his comeback
Scot faces triple grand-slam winner at Eastbourne Djokovic meets Cilic in the final at Queen’s Club today
The tennis gods have not been generous to Andy Murray since his comeback from hip surgery began at the Fever-Tree Championships last week.
Having drawn Nick Kyrgios for his opening match at Queen’s Club on Tuesday, Murray waited until Friday afternoon to confirm that he would enter tomorrow’s Nature Valley International at Eastbourne.
And then, yesterday, boom. The results of the draw arrived, showing that Murray will have to play triple grand-slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the first round.
This was a tough break, considering that there are plenty of middle-of-theroad players – the likes of John Millman and Lukas Lacko – who are playing Eastbourne and would have made for a gentler introduction.
Admittedly, Wawrinka is the only man ranked below Murray on the entry list, but that is a deceptive statistic because both players have been largely absent from the tour since last year’s Wimbledon because of injury. Rewind 13 months and they stood at
No1 and No3 in the world.
In Wawrinka’s case, he underwent two operations on his left knee in 2017, leaving a six-inch scar. It has taken him many months to recover the flexibility in the joint, and he was not himself during the European clay-court season. But Wawrinka blitzed the British No2 Cameron Norrie on Monday at Queen’s, and then gave Sam Querrey a real test in the second round, so he must be regaining some form.
While these two old stagers prepare for their 19th meeting on the tour (Murray leads by 10 wins to eight in a rivalry that dates back to 2005), the Queen’s final will be contested today by a pair of ball-bouncing Balkans: Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic.
Like the rest of the contingent from the former Yugoslavia, neither Cilic nor Djokovic encountered too many grass
courts during their formative years, but they have both grown to love this surface. Djokovic is a threetime Wimbledon champion whose most recent ATP title came at Eastbourne 51 weeks ago. Cilic was the runner-up at last year’s Wimbledon, where a blister reduced him to a state of tearful frustration.
The other commonality between the Serb and the Croat is a compulsive anxiety that can set in as they step up to the service line, particularly on big points. Djokovic has been known to bounce the ball almost 30 times, and Cilic stretched to similar lengths during January’s Australian Open semi-final against Kyle Edmund.
It will be interesting to see how chair umpires deal with this when the shotclock is introduced at the US Open because technically the service action does not start until the racket is swung.
Cilic was the first man through to the final yesterday after he shaded a bigserving contest with Nick Kyrgios in a pair of tie-break sets. He might have finished second in the ace tally, by 16 to 11, but he was more consistent off the ground and steadier mentally.
Djokovic also needed a tie-break, but he then claimed the only break of the day to set up a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over world No61 Jeremy Chardy.
The doubles final will have British interest after Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares beat Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in a deciding tie-break. Their opponents will be Henri Kontinen and Murray’s former partner, John Peers.
France have appointed a woman – Amelie Mauresmo, who used to coach Murray – as their Davis Cup captain for the first time. She replaces Yannick Noah, who had been doubling up as captain in both team competitions. The France Fed Cup team will be captained by Julien Benneteau.