Wimbledon make huge Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu blunder as potential farewell relegated
Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu will begin their Wimbledon mixed doubles campaign this weekend.
Wimbledon organisers have made a huge blunder with Saturday's schedule as Andy Murray's mixed doubles match with Emma Raducanu has been relegated to the second show court.
Their first-round tie could be Murray's last-ever match at SW19 and, if that is the case, he will not get a final ovation on Centre Court.
The Grand Slam-winning Brits will also clash with England's quarter-final at Euro 2024, meaning Murray's potential farewell won't be shown on BBC 1.
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Murray and Raducanu have been scheduled last on Court 1 on Saturday to face Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai. Two-time singles champion Murray also entered the men's doubles draw with his brother Jamie but they crashed out in the first round on Thursday night.
It means that Murray's final match at the All England Club will be played alongside Raducanu. And tournament bosses will be keeping everything crossed in the hopes that the Brits win their opening-round match so the former world No. 1 doesn't end his Wimbledon career on Court 1 in the shadow of the England national football team.
Former No. 1 Murray was honoured with tributes on Centre Court after Thursday's men's doubles match but he later said that was always the plan regardless of the result. But Saturday's schedule means his real farewell could be on the lesser court.
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Play starts at 1pm on the second show court at SW19. Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov will return to continue their third-round match which was rained off on Friday at 3-2 in the first set. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek will then take on Yulia Putintseva before former champion Elena Rybakina faces Caroline Wozniacki. Only after those matches are completed will Murray and Raducanu take to the court.
Meanwhile, Centre Court features Cameron Norrie vs Alexander Zverev, Ons Jabeur vs Elina Svitolina and Alexei Popyrin vs Novak Djokovic. But ticket-holders for the most expensive court will feel hard done by as they won't get to see Murray and Raducanu compete on the same side of the net.
Organisers could have at least prevented a clash with England's EURO clash against Switzerland by putting the British mixed doubles pairing on first - either at 1.30pm on Centre or 1pm on Court 1. But they were left in a tricky spot when Raducanu's third-round singles match finished shortly after 7pm on Friday, giving her minimal time to rest.
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BBC has the rights to Saturday's Euros game and Wimbledon, meaning England will get BBC 1 billing while Murray and Raducanu will be bumped off onto BBC 2. Earlier on Friday, tournament director Jamie Baker admitted that organisers would consider the football when making scheduling decisions.
"It’s one of the many things, we just consider it one of the challenges going through the tournament. It’s not unusual. It’s happened quite often," he said. "Andy and Emma will be on tomorrow’s schedule definitely, but whether they get on depends on what happens today and what court depends on what happens tomorrow.
"Obviously Emma is playing singles today so again, a bit will depend on what happens with that result. The things that we have to juggle is that with the football matches we know exactly what time they are but with tennis matches you don’t know exactly what time. You have to be a little bit reactive to day and we have a huge team of people who are very experienced so it’s bread and butter for them those things."