Andy Murray’s final tennis appearances will take place amid the saga between his mother Judy and Emma Raducanu. The two-time Wimbledon winner announced the coming Olympic Games in Paris will be the final matches of his illustrious career.
Murray, 37, will be playing doubles alongside Dan Evans in the French capital. His final Wimbledon match was a disappointing 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 loss to Rinky Hijikata and John Peers in the first-round. However, he was also supposed to play alongside Raducanu, who would go on to pull out of the match at the last minute after waking up and feeling stiffness in her wrist.
This marked the start of a saga between Raducanu and Judy. Both Judy and Murray are understood to have not spoken to the 2021 US Open winner since she decided to pull out of the contest at Wimbledon. Express Sport has a look at what happened between the pair.
Judy sparked the saga when she appeared to have a dig at Raducanu in a reply to tennis broadcaster Marcus Buckland, who tweeted: “Astonishing news that Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from her mixed doubles match with Andy Murray. She’s citing soreness in her right wrist. It means Murray has played his last match at Wimbledon. Oh dear!” Judy Murray replied: “Yes, astonishing,” sending sport and tennis fans into a frenzy.
Judy has since clawed back on her comments, claiming she was being sarcastic and instead blamed the competition’s scheduling for what happened. She wrote: “Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days. Pretty sure the scheduling (4th match court 1 with a singles following day) will have played a major part in any decision making.”
The next day, Raducanu doubled down on her decision, insisting it was the right thing to do. In a press conference, she said: “I don’t think it was a mistake because I was feeling fine, then [Saturday] morning just woke up with stiffness. I have to prioritise myself, my singles and my body. I think it was the right decision. I stand by the decision. Obviously it was a tough decision, though, because it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
When asked directly about Judy’s comments, Raducanu said she was unaware of any reaction to her decision and simply said that people are “entitled to their opinions”. She also admitted: “It was a very difficult decision. Of course, I didn’t want to take his last match away from him, but at the end of the day I think a lot of the players in a similar situation would have done the same thing.”
Nothing more has been said between Judy and Raducanu since. In fact, Murray’s mother switched her X account to private after her initial reply was flooded with replies. Meanwhile, Murray also said that he has not spoke to Raducanu since she informed him of her controversial decision. When asked directly if he has been in communication with Raducanu, he replied: “No, I haven’t spoken to her since we chatted on the phone, when she told me she wasn’t going to play. We’ve not spoken.”
He also came to the defence of his mother, when asked about her reaction. Murray said: “It’s always important, in situations like this, to remember that at that moment, everyone is really emotional. It’s the end of me playing at Wimbledon. For everyone, I’m aware there’s a much bigger picture out there.
“But she’s my mum. She cares a lot about me, and she has been a huge part of my career. Look at what had happened in the 10 days of warm-up – I had just had a surgery, I didn’t know if I would get the opportunity to play. Everyone’s emotions are running high at that time of year. My mum’s always going to look out for my best interests. She has been the best supporter.”
Meanwhile, Raducanu decided not to play at the Olympics, due to the fact it is being played on clay. Explaining her decision, she said: “I really hope to be a part of the next one, but I guess with the change in surface, it’s just not worth the risk for me at this point having recovered from the surgeries last year. But I do wish the team good luck. So not in a diva way, [I’m] just prioritising my body and my health because I know if I’m fit, I know if I’m giving my 100%, I know great things are happening and coming.”
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