Late pull-out Emma Raducanu should have been fully committed to playing with Andy Murray, writes his Olympics partner DAN EVANS
It was a privilege to be invited on court for Andy Murray’s farewell presentation at Wimbledon. I had just finished my doubles match when Tim Henman asked a few of us to head over to Centre Court.
Sue Barker was ready to deliver a few words, just like she did at the beginning of his career, and she struck the perfect tone. In many ways, it was fitting that Andy’s final Wimbledon match was with his brother on Centre Court – where he’s had the nation gripped so many times.
There was no chance to share a beer afterwards because Andy was expecting to play doubles with Emma Radacanu over the weekend. He was in full warm-down mode. Knowing Andy, he will remain that top professional until the bitter end. He won’t risk anything by not recovering properly and he wanted to be in the best possible shape for the mixed doubles.
It’s just unfortunate how it played out, with Emma pulling out a few hours before their match on Number One Court because she had a sore wrist. Of course the singles is a player’s priority - the prize money on offer is substantially more – and that will always be Emma’s main focus.
But once you agree to play doubles with someone – especially in a special situation like this – then you should be fully committed to it. I recently played doubles with Andy at Roland-Garros and he waited around all week to play with me, having being knocked out in the singles. I can’t blame Emma for pulling out but there’s a lesson in there about not committing unless you’re 100 per cent on board.
Emma Raducanu agreed to play mixed doubles with Andy Murray at his final Wimbledon
Raducanu pulled out just hours before their opening match with a sore wrist on Saturday, but still played her singles match the following day
Dan Evans (right) - who will partner Murray at the Olympics this summer - believes Raducanu should have been fully committed to the mixed doubles after agreeing to play with Murray
I feel incredibly fortunate to hopefully be sharing the court with Andy in his final event at the Olympic doubles this summer. I went for my kit fitting at the LTA suite at Wimbledon on Monday and I’m looking forward to staying in the athlete’s village in Paris. For me personally, I’m going to take a week to chill out and relax now before I get back to it. I’ll go home to Cheltenham and enjoy a bit of time with my family because it’s been a pretty stressful grass court season
I need to go away and do some work on my knee recovery. We haven’t finalised our schedules yet but Andy’s practicing at the National Tennis Centre in London so I’ll probably rent a place and join him there in a week or so. We have no plans to enter any competitions between now and the Olympics so it will just be training.
It’s disappointing that no Brits made it through to the second week of Wimbledon and now there’s a bit of time to recover and shift focus. We have no shortage of talented players – Jack Draper is particularly impressive – but I think a couple of things can change to deliver better results.
The quality is there but I’d like to see players competing more outside of the grass court season. In my opinion, British players are having too much time off. It’s great getting a few wildcard entries at Wimbledon but you also have to earn your stripes at the Challengers in unglamorous places where the prize money isn’t great. Too many of the players like to have a practise back home and relax. That’s fine if you’re well inside the top 100 but that clearly isn’t the case. It’s a mindset shift.
Raducanu struggled physically in her fourth round singles match before being knocked out, and Evans feels medical advice is sometimes lacking in tennis
Murray got an emotional farewell after losing in the men's doubles with his brother Jamie, and Evans (left) was present, but it was a shame to see him miss out on the mixed doubles
There’s also a high injury list on the men’s and women’s side. Are we getting players quickly back on court from injury? No. Are they training well enough so they don’t pick up injuries in the first place? The evidence doesn’t say so.
My opinion is the medical advice is sometimes lacking. I was completely ruled out of Wimbledon – an eight-week prognosis – but I took things into my own hands and was back in two. There’s a big discrepancy there and my takeaway was that the British mentality is too cautious.
The National Tennis Centre isn’t where you’ll boost your ranking. It’s being on the road, playing week-in week-out, and winning. British players need to spend more time out in the field, doing the hard yards, and that direction needs to come from the powers that be.
Wimbledon's Euros stance is right
I’ve heard a fair bit of debate about whether they should be televising England’s football matches at Wimbledon.
The organisers have taken a hard-line stance on not showing games in the grounds and I’m fully behind that. You’ve got to look after your own event. You want people to fill their seats and if you’re more interested in the football then give your Wimbledon ticket to someone else.
I’m a football fan and I’ll be watching England’s semi-final against Holland back at home!
Some fans seemed more concerned with finding out the England score on Saturday night, but Wimbledon are not showing any Euros games on their big screens
Evans believes Wimbledon organisers are right to not show the Euros, and will be watching England's semi-final from home on Wednesday
My dream meeting with Ronnie
One of the highlights of my time at Wimbledon this year was getting to meet Ronnie O’Sullivan.
He was a guest in the Royal Box and he came down to the players’ lawn after watching Novak Djokovic on Centre Court. I went over to ask him for a photo and we ended up chatting for about half an hour.
He knew his fair share about tennis but I spent most of the time chewing his ear off about snooker!
