Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu to pair up in mixed doubles at Wimbledon

Andy Murray’s farewell tour of Wimbledon sparked further into life on Wednesday when he and Emma Raducanu entered the mixed doubles together.

It was a crowd-pleasing move from Murray, who was forced to withdraw from the singles event on Tuesday after failing to recover from surgery on a spinal cyst only ten days earlier.

The decision should give Murray another chance to spin the dice as he looks for one last roof-raising win at Wimbledon, the tournament where he claimed the singles title in both 2013 and 2016.

He has already run one successful mixed-doubles campaign on these courts, when he and Laura Robson teamed up to land the silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

Then Murray also entered the Wimbledon mixed-doubles event in 2019, the year after his hip resurfacing surgery. That summer, he chose Serena Williams as his partner, and the famous pairing won two rounds before coming unstuck against Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar.

In that 2019 tournament, Murray was not ready to compete as a singles player, so played in both the doubles events, with his male partner being Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

He and Williams had different views on which portmanteau name should be used for their team, however, with Murray preferring SerAndy and Williams suggesting Murena.

In the case of this new partnership, options might include Raducandy or Maducanu. Calling them the Randies might give the wrong idea.

The first round of the mixed doubles event is due to be played on Friday and Saturday, while the men’s doubles – in which Murray has partnered up with his brother Jamie – opens across Wednesday and Thursday.

Former GB Davis Cup captain John Lloyd, a two-time Wimbledon mixed doubles winner, said: “Love it. I can’t believe it. That is so good to have these two together.

“She [Emma Raducanu] idolises Andy [Murray] and now she gets a chance to play with him in probably his last tournament. How special is that?

“You know how seriously he is taking that. He’ll have said to Emma ‘we’re going to win this. We’re not here just to have fun.’ That’s how competitive he is.

“I think that will be on the Centre Court.

“You can imagine there was no hesitation when the phone call came through. There will be a bit of pressure on Emma but she’s playing with her idol. What a great combo.”

Double act proves Murray is a real women’s ally

The news that Andy Murray will team up with Emma Raducanu in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon later this week was what every tennis fan wanted to hear.

Very rarely do sportsmen and women have the luxury of ending things on their own terms. After withdrawing from the men’s singles draw at the start of the week, linking up with the former US Open champion after all his injury battles could be the next best denouement to Murray’s career, alongside his doubles display with his brother Jamie.

It feels pretty symbolic, too. The term ‘male ally’ is bandied about a lot in women’s sport but throughout his long and storied career, Murray has been the perfect embodiment of one.

A fierce defender of female athletes, he has tirelessly used his platform to advocate for sportswomen, both in the tennis world and beyond. From appointing Amelie Mauresmo as his coach in 2014, when he proudly declared himself as a feminist, to calling out casual sexism in his sport (which purports to be one of the most gender-equal) he has been a true champion of sportswomen. It is part of the Andy Murray brand.

No more has this been true than at Wimbledon. Few will forget the time he boldly corrected a journalist following his quarter-final defeat to American Sam Querrey in 2017, when a male reporter lazily suggested that Querrey was the first US player to reach the semi-finals.

“Male player,” Murray interjected. The reporter laughed it off, but Murray appeared unimpressed. That same year, he also criticised sexist scheduling at the All England Club, when higher ranked female players were demoted to lower courts, a theme that continues to dog tennis.

His double-act with Raducanu has echoes of the time he partnered with Serena Williams in the mixed doubles five years ago. If this is to be one of his final acts, it seems like the perfect parting gift.

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