Whether or not he is fit to play at Wimbledon the Scot’s attritional style and long rallies may be a thing of the past given the hip problem that has almost ended his careerIt is testimony to Andy Murray’s enduring hold on our imaginations that mere informed rumours he is thinking about postponing his comeback until after Wimbledon have sent the media – mainstream and social – into a minor frenzy.There is an outside possibility the triple-slam champion, who is 31 next week and aware that his time is dwindling away, could even delay his return until 2019. That is unlikely. It would be the longest absence from the Tour of any of his peers, even Rafael Nadal, who has...
The world’s top five arrived at the 2017 Australian Open with realistic title aspirations. This year there is no guarantee they will even reach the starting lineIn the year since the five top‑ranked men’s players – Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori – arrived in Melbourne with reasonable expectations of challenging for the first grand slam title of the season, the tennis world has been tumble-dried like a 20-foot wave.Djokovic – once so dominant at the Australian Open – fell in the second round, Murray and Nishikori reached the last 16, Raonic got to the quarter‑finals and only Wawrinka reached the semi-finals. More significantly in a wider context, though, not one of them made it...
As football, cricket and tennis fans have all discovered, there is a unique and seductive allure to night-time competitionOne of the great things about being a fan of sport is the licence to rail against modernity. Complain about the intranet at work and no doubt, in time, you will be disciplined. Complain about sprinters pulling faces for the cameras on the start line and millions will be with you.This antediluvian attitude ought to make the positive noises which greeted the day-night Test involving England and the West Indies all the more surprising. Rather than bemoan the creation of an entirely new meal break, coined ‘trunch’ by my colleague Andy Bull, the Edgbaston crowd were bang into it. Perhaps even a...
With Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer struggling with injuries, can the next generation, led by Dimitrov, Thiem and Zverev, finally step up?What to make of the state of men’s tennis? For the best part of a decade a quartet of hall‑of‑famers have transcended their sport by lifting it to hitherto untouched heights with their titanic struggle for supremacy while below them a host of challengers have strained to swell the numbers of the elite club known as the Big Four. Plenty have tried, most have failed. Some have offered flashes of impertinence but only Stan Wawrinka has provided a sustained threat to the established order. The entry requirements are gruelling. The top players ally astonishing skill with an...
Konta was serene, Murray rather spiky, but Britain has representatives in both the Wimbledon men’s and women’s quarter-finals for the first time since 1973Liveried in regulation green and purple and an anachronism at an All England Club that has long been digitised, the resolutely old school, manually operated order of play board outside Centre Court is one of Wimbledon’s more popular locations for souvenir selfies. Related: Johanna Konta first British woman in Wimbledon quarter-finals for 33 years Related: Andy Murray hobbles to 10th straight Wimbledon quarter-final with Paire win Related: Konta fans fume as Wimbledon switches big screen match to Murray Continue reading...