Dream team — Williams to mix it up with Murray
This is quite a pair: Serena Williams is teaming with Andy Murray for mixed doubles at Wimbledon.
Murray’s agent, Matt Gentry, said yesterday the two tennis Grand Slam champions and former No 1-ranked players will be partners at the All England Club.
When Williams appeared at her post-match news conference after a first-round victory in singles — which happened before the announcement she’d play with Murray — she was greeted by plenty of questions about the possibility.
“His work ethic is just honestly off the charts. That’s something I’ve always respected about him. His fitness, everything. To do what he’s done in an era where there’s so many other great male tennis players, so much competition, to rise above it, not many people have done it. He’s actually one of the few,” Williams said. “There’s so many things to be admired. Above all, he really stands out, he really speaks up about women’s issues, no matter what. You can tell he has a really strong woman in his life. I think, above all, that is just fantastic.”
They are sure to draw plenty of attention, much more than mixed doubles normally attracts, and fill the stands — whenever and wherever their first-round match is played. Williams, of course, is one of the most successful and famous athletes in history, someone who has transcended her sport as a global icon while winning 23 major singles championships, along with another 14 in women’s doubles with her older sister, Venus. There are even a couple of mixed doubles titles on her resume, with Max Mirnyi at both Wimbledon and the US Open, all the way back in 1998.
Murray, meanwhile, is one of Britain’s biggest sports stars, forever known as the person who ended the locals’ 77-year wait for a homegrown men’s singles champion at the All England Club.
In addition to that 2013 triumph, he won Wimbledon again in 2016, plus the US Open in 2012, along with being the only tennis player to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals in singles.
He is limited to playing doubles as he returns from an operation for a hip replacement.