A frisson of excitement willowed through Wimbledon shortly after Pimm’s on Wednesday afternoon. The mixed doubles draw had landed. And there it was, confirmation of an historic partnership: Andy Murray, feminist and all-round good guy, to play with Serena Williams, the American he calls “perhaps the greatest player ever”.
This once-in-a-lifetime show will, the All England Club hope, run for longer than their first-round match against Germany’s Andreas Mies and American-born Chilean Alexa Guarachi. “Alexa? What are the odds of Murray and Williams reaching the second week?” “I’m sorry. I don’t understand the question.”
The first part of the question was not answered until late on Tuesday, about 15 hours before the entry deadline, when Murray and Williams stopped teasing everyone and announced they were an item. His courting of the women’s Tour was looking forlorn until then, as texts and phone calls criss crossed the strange Tinder world of doubles, where relationships can last as long as cream on a strawberry. Read more