(July 4, 2024) On Thursday Wimbledon saluted the career of Andy Murray after he lost in doubles, playing with his brother Jamie. The Murrays lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the first round of men’s doubles against Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. The three-time major champion Murray is not completely out of his last fortnight at the All England Club, he is scheduled to play mixed doubles with countrywoman Emma Raducanu who won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier. Murray withdrew from playing singles earlier in the week. He has just come off of surgery to remove a cyst from his spine just two weeks ago.
“The match itself, it was tough, physically,” Murray said after the match. “It was hard for me. I was fortunate I was even able to get on the court to play.”
“It was pretty emotional,” the 37-year-old Murray said about the postmatch tribute. “Watching the video was nice, but hard as well, for me. Because you know it’s coming to the end of something that you absolutely loved doing for such a long time. So that was difficult.”
“It is hard, because I would love to keep playing, but I can’t,” said Murray said in an interview with Sue Barker. “Physically it’s just too tough now. All of the injuries have added up and they haven’t been insignificant.
“I want to play forever. I love the sport. It’s given me so much, taught me loads of lessons over the years that I can use in the rest of my life. But I don’t want to stop, so it is hard.”
During his news conference after leaving Centre Court, Murray said, “When the video was playing, my head was spinning a lot. I know I’m about to have to speak. It’s difficult in those moments ’cause there’s a lot of people you want to thank and address, but it is not easy. It was pretty emotional, as well. Yeah, watching the video was nice, but hard as well, for me because you know it’s coming to the end of something that you’ve absolutely loved doing for such a long time. So that’s difficult.”
No. 2 Novak Djokovic survived a test from British wild card Jacob Fearnley with a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory.
It was a great effort from Jacob, he played great,” Djokovic said. “I had not had a chance to see him play before until two days ago. There is always an element of surprise and nothing to lose. Playing him at Wimbledon was always going to be tough. Most of the British players grow up being exposed to grass courts, quick surfaces, so they know how to play.
“I thought he served very well. It was very difficult to break his serve. He made me work. I was probably a bit lucky in the fourth not to go a break down. I could have won the match in three but this match potentially deserved to go into a fifth, with the way he played in the fourth. But I am very glad it didn’t.”
The 24-time major champion is back from recent right knee surgery.
No. 1 Iga Swiatek showed no weaknesses in her win over Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3 to extend her match winning streak to 21.
No. 5 Jessica Pegula became the highest-seeded woman to lose so far this fortnight, beaten by Wang Xinyu 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1.
No. 7 Hubert Hurkacz had to retire in his match against Arthur Fils of France after injuring his right knee in the fourth set.
Seeds also advancing were: 4 Elena Rybakina, No. 10 Ons Jabeur, No. 11 Danielle Collins, No. 12 Madison Keys, No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 14 Daria Kasatkina, No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya, No. 18 Marta Kostyuk, No. 21 Elina Svitolina, No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 9 Alex de Minaur, No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 13 Taylor Fritz and No. 14 Ben Shelton.
Other seeds falling on Thursday were No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 21 Karen Khachanov, No. 28 Jack Draper, No. 23 Caorline Garcia, No. 27 Katerina Siniakova, and No. 32 Katie Boulter.
