Considering he has been one of the biggest advocates of equal rights for men and women on the tennis tour, it is something of an irony that Andy Murray should so far have drawn a blank in his search for a mixed doubles partner at Wimbledon as he steps up his return, five months after hip surgery.
The former world No 1, always a voice of reason whenever the odd naysayer raises his head to discuss equal prize money or other occasionally contentious issues, has been putting his name and number out there in the past couple of weeks, almost like a teenager begging for a date. And like a teenager, he has had to deal with more than his share of rejection.
Ashleigh Barty, the recently crowned French Open champion who is already down to play women’s doubles as well as singles, said she could not manage three events, a decision she described as one of the hardest she has ever had to make. And France’s Kristina Mladenovic, who won the mixed title at Wimbledon in 2013, also politely declined for similar reasons.
The Czech Barbora Strycova and Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium are among those who took to social media to offer their services, while the Australian Casey Dellacqua, who partnered Barty to three grand slam doubles finals, said she would consider coming out of retirement if Murray should come knocking.
Murray has yet to decide, but just as he might have been despairing that he might not find an ideal partner, up stepped a rather unlikely possibility: Serena Williams. “I’m available,” the 23-times grand slam singles champion said on Saturday, her tongue perhaps in cheek. “I’m feeling better now, so I’m definitely available.”
Williams turns 38 in September and goes into Wimbledon without a warm-up event under her belt, the effect of a lingering knee injury leaving her unable to practise on grass until the start of last week. Whether her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, would countenance a decision to play mixed in addition to her singles is debatable and, as Williams said, her fitness is her first priority as she chases her 24th major title, a win that would equal the all-time record of the Australian Margaret Court. “Let’s see how my knee’s going,” said Williams, who won the mixed title in 1998 with Max Mirnyi of Belarus. “I’m finally doing good. I don’t want to, like, go back.”
Having won the title at the Fever-Tree Championships on his return alongside Feliciano López, Murray will partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France – winner of all four grand slam men’s doubles titles – in the men’s event. The possibility of a partnership with Williams, though, clearly piqued his interest. “She’s arguably the best player ever,” Murray said. “It would be a pretty solid partner.”
Murray has until 11am on Wednesday to enter and there is no question that his return to the Tour has given the doubles event far more attention than usual. The best-of-five-set format – Wimbledon is the only one of the grand slams not to play best of three sets in the men’s doubles – means very few top singles players feel they can compete in both events.
“I think when the top singles players are involved in the doubles, it does draw a little bit more attention to it,” he said. “That’s something that I think will be a positive thing for tennis, if more guys were playing doubles.
“But here it’s difficult because of the format, the best-of-five sets. For me, even [though] I’m playing doubles here, it’s even a consideration if I’m going to play mixed, as well. I would never expect a top singles player to enter the doubles here because playing potentially 10 sets in one day is just too much. That’s something that maybe would be worth looking at, to give more value to the doubles event, to get more of the top singles players playing, is to reduce the length of the matches a bit.”
