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Wimbledon: Murray faces fellow Brit, Serena begins bid for 22nd Slam
Andy Murray is about to do something he never has: face a fellow Brit at Wimbledon.
For all that he’s achieved in more than a decade as a professional tennis player, from the two Grand Slam titles to the No. 2 ranking, from an Olympic gold medal in singles to a Davis Cup championship, Andy Murray is about to do something he never has: face a fellow Brit at Wimbledon.
On Centre Court on Tuesday, Murray will play Liam Broady, a 22-year-old wild-card entry who is ranked 235th.
“I know Liam fairly well. We practiced a bit earlier this year,” Murray said. “He’s a good guy. Works hard. ... Look forward to it. But, I mean, it will be a bit strange. It’s never happened before for me.”
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This will be Murray’s 56th career match at the All England Club, where in 2013 he became first British man in 77 years to win the championship.
For Broady, whose sister Naomi lost in the first round Monday, it will be his third match at the grass-court major tournament.
There are other reasons to think this one might be rather one-sided. Murray, for example, has never lost to a player ranked as low as Broady in a tour-level match. And Broady, for his part, has never defeated anyone ranked higher than 138th, although that career-best victory did come at Wimbledon, a year ago against Marinko Matosevic.
Plus, Murray is 10-0 in first-round matches at Wimbledon.
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This is the first all-British men’s match at the All England Club since 2001 — and the first at any Grand Slam tournament since the 2006 U.S. Open.
Here are some other things to look for Tuesday at Wimbledon:
Serena starts
Defending champion Serena Williams begins on the Centre Court schedule against an opponent with an unusual backstory. Amra Sadikovic is a 27-year-old from Switzerland who is ranked 148th and made it into her first Grand Slam field via qualifying rounds. There’s more: Sadikovic decided two years ago to retire from tennis, because she was not enjoying the sport and was having financial problems. After taking 13 months off, she returned. Asked Sunday whether she knows anything about Sadikovic, Williams replied: “Not yet. But normally, my coach obviously does a lot of research, or the most that he can. Then we go from there.”
Kyrgios-Stepanek
A contrast in, um, experience is featured on Court 2, where 21-year-old Nick Kyrgios takes on 37-year-old Radek Stepanek. Kyrgios is seeded 15th, has a loud personality and loud game, and reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2014, knocking off Rafael Nadal along the way. Stepanek, a wild-card entry ranked 121st, also has been a quarterfinalist at the All England Club — all the way back in 2006. If he can eliminate Kyrgios, Stepanek would be the oldest man to win a match at Wimbledon since Jimmy Connors made it to the third round at age 38 in 1991.
Wawrinka-Fritz
Stan Wawrinka is a two-time major champion who is seeded No. 4, but he also has been a first-round loser at Wimbledon five times. His opening foe this time is 65th-ranked American Taylor Fritz, who at 18 is the youngest man in the draw and is seeking his first career Grand Slam match win.
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