Billie Jean King praises Murray for bringing ‘credibility and excitement to British tennis’ as Raducanu makes ‘tough decision’ to exit doubles partnership
The day finally came: Andy Murray has played his final match at Wimbledon. The 37-year-old Scot, Britain’s greatest postwar tennis player, had been due to contest the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, the shock 2021 US Open champion, yesterday evening. To say there was excitement about the pairing would be a wild understatement: fans have been coming up with portmanteau names (Raducandy, Em&M, Maducanu) ever since the unlikely team was announced on Wednesday. Roger Federer was in the stands, ready to watch.
But Em&M was not to be. “Unfortunately, I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist,” Raducanu announced on Saturday afternoon, “so I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight. I’m disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy, but got to take care.”