DREAM TEAM
All-star pairing Murray and Serena wow Centre Court with doubles win
ANDY MURRAY and Serena Williams got their much-anticipated mixed doubles pairing off to a winning start in front of a packed Centre Court at Wimbledon last night.
The all-star duo saw off Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi 6-4, 6-1 to help ease the pain of Murray’s earlier exit from the men’s doubles.
TWENTY four hours later than scheduled, Andy Murray finally made his return to the Centre Court last night, two years after limping away amid highly emotional scenes from the men’s singles quarter-final.
He may have been accompanied by Serena Williams, the greatest female player of all time, but there was a light feel of Strictly Come Dancing to it all as the dream team took their long-anticipated Wimbledon bow.
Amid all the whooping and cheering, oohs and aahs, there was a mixed doubles tennis match to be won, played competitively but with an unmistakeable sense of fun attached to proceedings. Murray’s watching mother Judy, a former primetime ballroom contestant, may have found it all quite familiar.
Having been postponed from Friday night, the match ended with the Scot and the American safely waltzing to victory
against Germany’s Andreas Mies and Chile’s Alexa Guarachi 6-4, 6-1. This rounded off a long day for Murray, who earlier had suffered a deflating four-set loss in the second round of the men’s doubles against sixth seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugar.
After the fallow Sunday, he and Williams have potentially five more opportunities in the mix together.
This could hardly have been more different from the 32-year-old’s last visit, which saw him succumb to the hip problems that were to herald a period of so much frustration and misery.
Returning to the scene of his many career highlights fit and healthy guaranteed this to be a happy occasion.
What was clear by the end is that he and Williams will be very difficult to beat, assuming that both remain uninjured. Williams’ serve is a match for many of the men and they are both such good returners that it will take an inspired combination to beat them.
Asked who was in charge, Williams said: ‘We are a team, there’s no “I” in team.’ Smiling, Murray responded: ‘We are both younger siblings, so we are used to being bossed around!’
The Scot’s movement looked good. ‘My back was a bit stiff after the men’s doubles but it felt good tonight,’ he said. ‘The hip is fine, a few aches and pains elsewhere. It was a good start.’
They had managed only one practice session between them but it did not seem an issue. It could hardly be otherwise with them having won a combined total of 16 Grand Slams, singles and doubles, on this
court plus two gold medals from London 2012 Olympics. Having squeezed their huge entourages into the guest area, Williams got off to a false start by forgetting to take her accreditation badge off and only removing it after the first two points.
That done, they proceeded to break the serve of French Open mens doubles champion Mies. He was not afraid to pepper his female opponent, who had asked to play in the deuce court.
The first set was competitive but the German and the Chilean were both broken at the start of the second and Guarachi lost her serve again for good measure and all hope was quickly gone.
Murray’s appearance here is only one step on a longer journey, and he has suffered worse setbacks of late than his earlier defeat alongside Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Their collaboration ended when they lost 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to their Croatian opponents. A sign of their partnership unwinding was that the Scot began by receiving serve on the advantage side, only to switch to the deuce court after things headed south in the third set.
Murray was able to shrug off that exit easily enough, saying: ‘It’s not a blow really in the grand scheme of things. I know you guys were talking about winning the doubles. I was aware that wasn’t going to be the case most likely. It was a shame because I felt like the first couple of sets we played well.’
After Wimbledon, Murray will decide on the next stage of his comeback. But it’s doubtful that he will continue as a gents doubles specialist, no matter how happy he has been to return to the court.
In the women’s singles, Williams was impressive earlier in beating Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4 to ease into the fourth round.
As for concerns over her fitness for the dual challenge she faces, Williams said: ‘I’ll be fine. I play doubles a lot, especially in Grand Slams. I’m definitely used to all the matches.’