The opponents Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu will face in the first round of the Wimbledon 2024 mixed doubles are now known.
The two British Grand Slam champions, Raducanu and Murray, will face Zhang Shuai and Marcelo Arevalo in an attempt to advance to the second round.
“What exactly are you trying to get out of it?” my colleagues asked me after we had a brief conversation about it.
Regarding his choice to collaborate with Raducanu, Murray stated on Wednesday. Playing with another British player would be good, but our main goal is to be competitive in the matches.
“She would have been at the top of the list; she’s clearly one of the best British players.”
Murray is not featuring in the men’s singles after he failed to recover in time from surgery on a spinal cyst – pulling out of Tuesday’s match against Tomas Machac – a huge blow to the fans who wanted to see him one last time before retirement.
The 37-year-old British hero, a two-time Wimbledon champion, is still due to play in the men’s doubles, though, alongside his brother Jamie Murray.
Team name suggestions at the ready…@EmmaRaducanu and @andy_murray will be entering this year's Mixed Doubles Championship as wild cards 🇬🇧#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/ILAdl99y3n
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2024
The Murray brothers face John Peers and Rinky Hijikata on either Thursday or Friday in what could be one of the former world No.1’s last-ever matches in SW19.
Fans will now get a second chance to give Murray a send-off at this year’s Championships with the three-time major winner signing up for mixed doubles with fellow British star Raducanu after the pair were handed a wildcard.
The mixed doubles competition gets underway on Friday, July 5 at the All England Club two days after Raducanu plays her second-round singles match on Wednesday, with the 2021 US Open champion facing Elise Mertens on Court No.1.
Murray has played in the Wimbledon mixed doubles just once before, when he teamed up with Serena Williams to reach the third round five years ago.
Andy Murray, in an exclusive interview with Metro.co.uk, spoke highly about Emma Raducanu this week, singling out her recent win over Jessica Pegula.
‘Emma has played pretty well on the grass – her win against Jessica Pegula [in Eastbourne] was a good win for her,’ Murray said when asked if Raducanu could genuinely win a Grand Slam tournament in 2025.
‘She will have the crowd behind her [at Wimbledon]. Next year really depends on whether she can stay injury free and go deep in some tournaments to maintain her match fitness.
‘The match at Nottingham [against British No.1 Katie Boulter] was great for the crowds – they love watching the Brits so to have two of them on court together, it would have been a brilliant atmosphere.’
Emma Raducanu also had plenty to say about Andy Murray this week, praising the veteran in her post-match press conference after her win over Renata Zarazua.
‘I think the biggest advice [I’ve got from Andy Murray] is just how he’s always taken care of his operations, how he manages his people,’ she said.
‘I think for me it’s just like watching him operate day to day, watching him be absolutely on it with everything. Even in practice now, he’s so on it to the minute.
‘I think me, when I was a bit younger maybe, showing up 15 minutes before practice to do a few arm curls, swing my hand around and warm up, he’s there for an hour and a half doing treatment. He just sets really good examples.’