Without fail papers like The Sun and the Daily Mail at Wimbledon every year reserve their outrageously big and bold headlines for British tennis players–no matter if those headlines tease a story that is actually worth reading. Some British man or woman who is outside the top 100 could lose a non-descript match to someone else outside the top 100 and those papers would treat it like its the biggest sporting development since the Thrilla in Manila.
On some occasions, though, those headlines are deserved. And that has been the case throughout the first week of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
Cameron Norrie upset Jack Draper in an all-British showdown in men’s singles. On the women’s side there was an all-Brit battle between Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, won by Dart in three tight sets. A resurgent Emma Raducanu is already in the prestigious second week. And, of course, Andy Murray said goodbye to Wimbledon.
As if that isn’t enough to whet the appetites of British sports fans, the Euro 2024 Cup is potentially three wins away from coming home. The English men’s national team is in the quarterfinals against Switzerland on Saturday evening, so the palpable buzz around the grounds of the All-England Club hasn’t been strictly about tennis.
Even in Murray’s case, the mood around here has mostly been celebratory. The two-time Wimbledon winner lost his doubles match with his brother, Jamie, on Thursday–but it was followed with a pretty much perfect retirement ceremony. Complete with legendary BBC presenter Sue Barker in charge of the proceedings, the Centre Court sendoff for Murray featured Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, Holger Rune, and Brits Norrie, Draper, Dan Devans, and Tim Henman on court.
Many others paid tribute to Murray during and after on social media. Among them were Djokovic, Swiatek, Rune, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur, Victoria Azarenka, Daria Kasatkina, Petra Kvitova, and Ons Jabeur.
Murray still has mixed doubles with Raducanu (as the schedule currently stands, subject to change), but the three-time slam champ has played his last men’s singles and men’s doubles matches on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon. He has no more headlines to make. That torch will passed to the likes of Raducanu, Boulter, Draper, and others.
For now, it’s up to Raducanu–and England’s Euro soccer squad–to keep up Britain’s winning ways.
Raducanu was asked following her third-round defeat of Maria Sakkari on Friday about being the “home hope” now that Murray is out.
“I thrive on such occasions, on big stages,” the 2021 U.S. Open champion responded. “It’s something that I play tennis for. I just love the feeling of it, competing, especially here in front of a home crowd. It is really amazing. I think on the pressure side, you can flip it. I have a packed Centre Court who are all rooting for me to win. It really felt like that today. It really felt like that in my last two matches.
“For me, I just feel happy that that many people are behind me. That’s just in a microcosm of what’s going on in the wider world. Not everyone who supported me is in that stadium.”
With the Murray gone for all intents and purposes, the British public is starving for success from another source. Raducanu and the other remaining Brits are obvious longshots for the title, but a nation can dream, right?
Maybe there are very real headlines still to be made.
