Andy Murray is believed to be very disappointed by Emma Raducanu’s decision to end her Wimbledon career by withdrawing from their mixed doubles match. Judy Murray said Raducanu’s withdrawal was “shocking”.
Murray and Raducanu were scheduled to face Marcelo Arevalo and Shuai Zhang in Saturday’s final on Court No. 1, but Raducanu said at lunchtime on Saturday that he was withdrawing due to wrist stiffness. With his withdrawal, Raducanu brought a sudden and controversial end to Murray’s historic Wimbledon career.
The decision has put her at odds with the first family of British tennis, with Murray himself expressing disappointment, while Judy posted on social media “Yes, amazing” in response to a tweet about the news.
Murray said goodbye to Wimbledon after losing alongside his brotherJamie on Thursday, but was expected to play at least one more game alongside Raducanu.
Given the tight schedule, there was obviously a risk that Saturday’s mixed doubles match would finish late, which would affect Raducanu’s preparation for her fourth-round singles match on Sunday.
But there must also be a question about Why did you accept the invitation? First of all, when she is usually so cautious about her workload and recovery.
Raducanu: “I have to take care of myself”
Explaining her decision to withdraw, Raducanu said: “Unfortunately, I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist this morning, so I have decided to make the difficult decision to withdraw from tonight’s mixed doubles. I am disappointed because I was really looking forward to playing with Andy, but I have to be careful.”
The explanation makes some sense, as Raducanu missed seven months of the 2023 season following surgery on both wrists, but there was still a sense that this was a tactical decision that arose from scheduling pressure.
In an ideal world, Murray and Raducanu would have been slotted earlier on Saturday’s schedule, but delays caused by last week’s rainy weather have created a backlog of tennis.
His opponent, Arevalo, was due to finish his own second-round men’s doubles match on Saturday morning, making it difficult for the All England Club to get everything done.
The late withdrawal left Murray with no time to find an alternative partner, so Rajeev Ram and Katie Volynets stepped in to fill the vacant spot in the mixed doubles draw.
On Wednesday, Raducanu was asked about her decision to accept Murray’s invitation to join him in the mixed doubles draw. In her response, she admitted that her advisers were unsure whether it was wise to accept.
“My team was asking me, ‘Emma, are you sure you want to play? Just in case… you’re still in the tournament,’” Raducanu said. “I was like, ‘Don’t think about it anymore.’”
She added: “I think Murray’s invitation to play gave me a lot of energy, and just knowing that I could have that opportunity and experience made me very happy and I slept very peacefully and woke up very happy as well.”
On Friday, Raducanua said of her doubles match with Murray: “The schedule wasn’t ideal. It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to play with him. It’s something I’m going to cherish.”
Difficulty combining success in doubles and singles
There are very few examples of female tennis players who have been successful in both singles and mixed doubles in Wimbledon history. The only one who managed to win both tournaments simultaneously was Martina Navratilova, who rose to the top in 1985, having partnered Paul McNamee. She won the singles title again the following year, but lost in the mixed doubles final to Heinz Günthardt.
The only other women in history to achieve that particular double were Ann Jones in 1969 (doubles with Fred Stolle) and Billie Jean King in 1973 (doubles with Owen Davidson).
Since then, several have tried and failed. If we narrow our expectations to strong performances at both events, we might point to singles quarter-finalist Mary Pierce, who won the mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2005, or Yaroslava Shvedova, who reached a singles quarter-final and a mixed doubles semi-final in 2016. This particular double has proved too difficult even for Serena Williams, who won the mixed doubles in 1998, four years before she won her first Wimbledon.