That’s got the deuce flowing!
Murray optimistic he’ll be fit for Wimbledon
ANdY mURRaY is cautiously optimistic that he will be fit for Wimbledon next week, but parts of his game are still not functioning properly.
The 35-year-old Scot will join the star- studded roll call of the unready when The Championships begin, due to the strained stomach muscle that kept him out of Queen’s last week.
He has been unable to hit serves and overheads so far in his training sessions at the all England Club, which have been taking place under the eye of Ivan Lendl, who has arrived in London to oversee preparations.
‘The positive is that I’ve been able to get on the practice court and hit balls and work on a lot of different things, but there are specific shots that I have not been able to practise,’ admitted murray yesterday. ‘That has obviously hampered the preparations. In the next couple of days, I’ll have to start to increase that and test it to see where it’s at.
‘Obviously the plan is still to play. The injury that I had is improving. I’ve had it rescanned since then (his withdrawal from Queen’s) and it’s progressing in the right way.’ murray had been coming to the
boil nicely. He played nine matches across the Surbiton Trophy and Stuttgart Open, moving well and making the final in Germany.
The nine matches played in less than a fortnight were a workload he has been unaccustomed to in recent years due to the various problems related to his metal hip.
murray said: ‘It’s frustrating to be in this position in the build-up to Wimbledon, but I’ve been in worse situations. The positive for me is that I’ve dealt with certainly worse issues in the last few years and handled them OK.’
Rafael Nadal yesterday confirmed that he will be back to play his first grass-court event in three years when he formally signed up to play in Fulham this week.
The king of the French Open will take up a slot at the Giorgio
armani Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club tomorrow afternoon, where his opponent will be Stan Wawrinka.
Novak djokovic will also be playing after arriving in the UK at the weekend. The reigning SW19 champion will face Canada’s Felix auger-aliassime.
Nadal was a major doubt for Wimbledon after his foot problems in Paris, and it is hard to believe that he has made the choice to attempt the grass unless he believes he has a genuine chance of winning Wimbledon.
The man from Spain could hardly have imagined back in January that he would be halfway to the calendar Grand Slam.
another great, Serena Williams, will play her first competitive match for nearly a year today with a warning that she will not find it easy to make an instant comeback.
The american legend, 40, will combine with Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the doubles at Eastbourne’s Rothesay International, her only warm- up for Wimbledon next week. Yet the SW19 beaten finalist from last year, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, cautioned that returning with so little tennis behind her will be tough.
Williams retired from her first- round match at the all England Club in 2021 and has barely been seen since.
‘I don’t know how long it has been since she has played, has it been a year?’ asked Pliskova.
‘It is a long time and she is not the youngest any more so I suppose the body takes some time to get back into shape. Playing matches at tournaments is still very much different to practising and she is just playing doubles.
‘I think it will be difficult, super difficult for her no matter which kind of player she is because this is a thing where you still need some time.
‘But of course she is an amazing player, she achieved so much. Still a number of players will be super scared to play her. This is her advantage but let’s see the level.’
Williams did not appear in a hurry to make up for lost time yesterday, and cancelled her devonshire Park practice at short notice, but had been back on court over the weekend.