We wanted Murray in final, say winners
Newly-anointed Wimbledon mixed doubles champions Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig (right) were happy to discuss the contribution of Andy Murray and Serena Williams to this year’s competition, despite being knocked out in the third round, such is the interest the stellar duo brought to what is often the poor relation of grand-slam competitions.
With the winners each getting £58,000, compared with the £45,000 losers of first-round singles matches receive, there had been a sense that the star power would cause more players to take what is often viewed as a curiosity more seriously.
Despite an impressive 6-2, 6-3 win over the pairing of 22 year-old 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and 42-year-old Swede Robert Lindstedt, Chan explained how she and her Croatian partner had been disappointed not to meet Murray and Williams in the final. “It was a shame that we couldn’t play Andy and Serena in the final, we had been really looking forward to that,” she said.
Chan, who is from Taipei, also expressed her pleasure as a three-time major winner in mixed doubles, having won the
2018 and 2019 French Opens, that stars of the singles now come to compete. She added: “It is great to see the big names playing mixed doubles, especially together the way Andy and Serena did. I think it is important for mixed doubles that that happened.”
The No8 seeds looked the superior team throughout their encounter, which was moved from Centre Court to No1 Court due to the men’s doubles final running to over five hours on Saturday. Chan and Dodig’s on-court chemistry from having played six grand-slams together was easy to spot compared with Ostapenko and Lindstedt, who had just come together a few weeks ago. Although Ostapenko had a dangerous serve, Chan and Dodig were able to nullify the threat due to a greater level of on-court communication and almost telepathic movements close to the net.
The beginnings of their working relationship were not so smooth as Chan was taken aback when Dodig first approached her in the Indian Wells players’ restaurant last year. “This guy just popped up and said have you got a partner for the French Open?” she said.
“I thought, ‘I have never talked to this guy before, let me think about it!’” The partnership almost broke up before it began when Chan injured her rib, but the duo now have their eyes set on the US and Australian Opens.
The women’s doubles saw Johanna Konta’s quarter-final conqueror Barbora Strycova and partner Hsieh Su-wei, from Taipei, beat Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan, of China, 6-2, 6-4.