| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July Starts: 11:30 BST |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Andy Murray’s defence of his Wimbledon title ended with him limping to defeat in his quarter-final against Sam Querrey on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Briton will retain his world number one ranking for now, because Novak Djokovic was forced to retire from his match against Tomas Berdych later on the same day.
But what should Murray and his injured hip do next?
Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker explains how top tennis stars cope with advancing age and chronic injury – and why we should not give up hope of seeing the Scot manage a third triumph on Centre Court.
The next Grand Slam is the US Open, from 28 August. Murray, the 2012 champion, lost in the quarter-finals in New York last year. Before then, he is scheduled to play at ATP tournaments in Montreal from 7 August and Cincinnati a week later.
Becker: Andy Murray’s defeat should not be seen as the beginning of the end of his chances of winning another Grand Slam. Absolutely not.
I think what has happened so far this year has actually proved that, the older you get, the better you are – look at Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, what Serena Williams was doing and what Venus is doing now. They are all older than him.
Age is only a number, but you only have one body. Andy has to look after his.
He has got to think long-term, not worry about making the US Open – if he is moving there like he did at Wimbledon, then he won’t win it anyway.
So, the worst thing that can happen if he skips New York is that he misses one Grand Slam – that doesn’t matter, because the Australian Open is around the corner at the start of 2018.
His ranking should not be a concern either. Again, he will not defend it if he is not healthy, so he should just forget it.
He has been there and done it and he does not have to prove anything anymore that he is good enough to be number one.
Rafael Nadal pulled out of the French Open in May 2016 with a wrist injury and did not play again until the Rio Olympics in August. He won his 10th title at Roland Garros earlier this year. Roger Federer missed the final five months of 2016 to recover from his knee injury but returned to win the Australian Open in January.
Becker: With this injury, there are limitations to Andy’s movement. There are some players who depend more on their serve who can get quick points, but Andy relies on his speed and footwork, which are an integral part of his game.
That is why he needs to be 100% fit. It’s no good for him to be 75% – yes, he is maybe good enough to get to the quarters, like he did here, but he is the number one in the world and he enters tournaments to win them.
The Tour is a gruelling schedule and I would give the same advice to Novak too – rest.
They should both look at the examples of Rafa and Roger. Look at what they have done since coming back fully fit.
Nadal struggled last year with injuries, so he took some time off to get fully fit and look what a year he is having.
So maybe that is a lesson learned for Andy and Novak to really take care of their bodies – take their time and get healthy, and don’t play when they can’t.
Murray admits he has managed his hip condition since he was 22. He has also suffered from chronic back pain that affected him earlier in his career, and he had surgery on an injured disc in 2013. Djokovic revealed after his Wimbledon exit that his elbow has been bothering him for more than 18 months.
Becker: Injuries are part of tennis. Most players have niggles and pains right through the year and usually you are able to manage them with the physios and recovery schedules you are given.
But in Grand Slams you play longer matches and there is more chance they can flare up.
I understand why Andy played Wimbledon, because it is his number one tournament every year, and he was also the defending champion. He was desperate to make it work.
I was always the same. In hindsight, I should not have played some of my matches but, in the heat of the moment, I always wanted to play the next round or the next event.
But you run the risk of doing yourself more serious damage if you play on, and that happened to me. I had my struggles with certain injuries, especially with my right ankle, and I am paying a heavy price today.
Andy is now at the point where he needs to be really honest with himself because if he can’t run, he can’t play.
It looked bad for him on Wednesday but he probably does not know yet what is going to happen next.
I credit him for not wanting to use the hip injury as an excuse for his defeat but he needs to get a couple of opinions from doctors before he thinks about coming back.
Becker won Wimbledon twice as a teenager in 1985 and 1986. His last Grand Slam victory was the 1996 Australian Open at the age of 28. He retired at the age of 32 in 1999.
Becker: Turning 30 is a milestone for a tennis player but it is not a reason to be injured more. That is down to the amount of tennis you play, and how you deal with your injuries.
The attractions for me when I was unable to play were always the same – every week brought another tournament and more ranking points, and of course you want to get back to doing something you love.
I am sure Andy is the same – that desire to keep playing tennis is not his problem, but I think emotions are the wrong things for him to follow right now. He has to follow logic and just think about the rest of his career.
As you get older it does get harder to come back. If it is a new injury every year then it is manageable. If it is the same injury for a number of years, then eventually it can affect your mind-set – and that is the crucial thing here.
In my experience, your motivation changes with age. It cannot be the same at 30 as it was at 20, and you cannot have the same motivation to win Wimbledon again when you have already won it once, because the second time is not the same.
You have to find different ways to stimulate yourself, because ultimately that is what prolongs your career and means you keep coming back.
Look at Roger Federer, who is playing the best tennis ever at the age of 35 because he has got everything right in the rest of his life too.
The four players left in the men’s singles have won a total of 19 Grand Slam titles between them. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Federer has won 18 of them – Marin Cilic, who won the 2014 US Open, is the only other major winner left in the tournament.
Becker: Roger will never admit it but he is the clear-cut favourite now.
But, having said that, the Wimbledon semi-final is never easy because your opponent has won five times to get there and is full of confidence.
Tomas Berdych will have nothing to lose when he plays him, and for Roger things are different this year.
No man has won eight Wimbledon titles and I think history is as much of an opponent for him as any of the players left in the tournament.
In the other semi-final, I would give the edge to Cilic over Sam Querrey, because he has won a Grand Slam before and it just feels like his number has come up this year.
Cilic had gone out in the quarter-finals here in the past three years, so he has been knocking on the door for a while, and he has eventually gone through.
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Sue Barker and Boris Becker discuss Andy Murray’s shock exit from Wimbledon 2017 and the hip injury which means he will “most likely” miss the rest of season.
Brit downplays hip issues after Wimbledon exit to Querrey
The mind was willing, but the body was not. Top seed Andy Murray dropped his Wimbledon crown on Wednesday after struggling with hip issues in the latter stages of his quarter-final loss against Sam Querrey, but made every effort to not blame the injury for his defeat.
Instead, he was full of praise for the aggressive play from the American. Murray said that Querrey’s game is tailor made for grass, but that he’s also made adjustments to utilise his strengths even further on the surface.
“I think he’s played well this tournament. He’s looking to be aggressive. With the strengths and power that he has, it gives him the best chance to do well in these events,” said Murray. “When he’s serving well – I think going into the match he was averaging 25 aces a match – it maybe allows him to be a little bit freer in the rest of his game and go for his shots.
“He’s coming forward a bit more than he used to in the past. He’s certainly competent at the net and makes his volleys. He’s a big guy up there,” he added. “That’s the main difference I saw in his game.”
But despite Querrey’s excellent tennis, it was also clear that Murray was having hip troubles in the final two sets. Even though Murray still put up impressive stats through his four victories this fortnight and came within a set of the semi-finals, he hinted that he struggled physically throughout the tournament.
However, Murray said once he knew playing through the pain wouldn’t affect his plans for the American hard-court season, he wanted to do everything possible to defend his Wimbledon crown.
“I knew I wasn’t going to do any major damage by playing. We were looking at short-term solutions because you want to play Wimbledon. You want to play all of the Slams and give your best effort there,” said Murray. “I managed to get through a bunch of matches and did okay. Now I’ll sit down with my team and look a bit longer term, come up with a plan for what I have to do next.
“I’ve been a little bit sore the whole tournament, but I tried my best right to the end. I’m proud about that,” said Murray. “It’s disappointing to lose at Wimbledon. There’s obviously an opportunity there, so I’m sad that it’s over.”
More: Cilic Reaches First Wimbledon SF
The hip injury isn’t new for Murray, but he had been taking two ice baths per day in recent weeks to combat the stiffness. The Brit received treatment for a hip injury during Wimbledon in 2015 and he admitted the issue has been ongoing.
“I’ve been dealing with it for a very long time during my career. Obviously as you get older, things are a little bit tougher to manage than they are when you’re younger. There’s a bit more wear and tear there,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to get through it moving forward. I just need to do all of the right things and be even more diligent and professional than I have been recently.”
Murray will turn his attention to rest and recovery, but said one thing he won’t be focusing on is potentially losing his top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He would have remained No. 1 with a win over Querrey, but Novak Djokovic can reclaim that position if he takes the title this week.
With a mountain of points to defend in the second half of the season and a disappointing 2017 so far by his lofty standards, the Brit somewhat surprisingly said it was a question of when, not if, he would lose the No. 1 ranking.
“I haven’t played well enough this year to deserve to stay there for much longer. If it doesn’t happen by the end of this tournament, it will happen by the end of the US Open,” he said. “That’s fine. Obviously, I would rather be ranked No. 1 than No. 2, 3 or 4. [If I lose it], I’ll try and find a way to get back there. Hopefully I can do that.”
| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Reigning champions Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen continued their defence of the Wimbledon mixed doubles with a comfortable last-16 victory.
Britain’s Watson and Finnish playing partner Kontinen won 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 against fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza.
They play 10th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski in the last eight.
Watson and Kontinen, who are unseeded, won last year’s tournament having never played together previously.
Earlier, British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski lost their first Grand Slam quarter-final in the men’s doubles.
The pair, from Liverpool, lost 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 6-4 against fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
Ken, 34, and Neal, 28, missed three sets points in a 20-minute tie-break before fourth seeds Kubot and Melo took an hour-long opener.
Poland’s Kubot and Brazilian Melo needed a single break in each of the following sets to reach the last four.
Later on Wednesday, Ken Skupski and fellow Briton Jocelyn Rae earned a thrilling victory in the mixed doubles to set up a quarter-final tie against top seeds Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis.
Skupski and Rae won 5-7 6-4 9-7 against ninth seeds Max Mirnyi and Ekaterina Makarova in fading light on Court One.
The British pair needed two and 21 minutes before Rae, a 26-year-old from Nottingham, served out their third match point.
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| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July Starts: 11:30 BST |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Novak Djokovic is out of Wimbledon after retiring injured during his quarter-final against Tomas Berdych.
The former world number one, who would have regained top spot by winning the title, was down 7-6 (7-2) 2-0 when he withdrew with an elbow injury.
Djokovic, 30, had treatment on a right shoulder injury during his last-16 win over Adrian Mannarino and needed further attention against Berdych.
The Serb said he would consider whether surgery was needed to fix the injury.
“I haven’t felt this much pain since I’ve had this injury,” said Djokovic.
“It’s not the shoulder, it’s the elbow that has kept bothering me for over a year and a half.
“I was able, for 30 minutes, to play with some pain that was bearable, but the serve and forehand were shots where I could feel it the most. After that, there was really no sense [in continuing].”
Czech world number 15 Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, will face Roger Federer in the semi-final.
Djokovic had been set to play his last-16 match against Mannarino on Monday but it was delayed as Rafael Nadal’s match against Gilles Muller went to five sets and tournament officials decided to not move the Serb on to the available Centre Court.
He beat Mannarino 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in Tuesday’s opening match but was the only men’s quarter-finalist not to have a day’s rest between rounds.
Against Berdych, Djokovic called a medical time-out after losing the first-set tie-break and received attention on his right arm before he withdrew.
“It is unfortunate I had to finish Wimbledon in this way. If someone feels bad, it is me,” added Djokovic.
“I spent about two hours, two and a half hours, on the table today in between the warm-up and match, trying to do everything I could to make me fit.
“I’m going to talk with specialists, as I have done in the last year, to try to figure out what’s the best way to treat it and find a long-term solution.
“The level of pain was not decreasing, it was only increasing as the days went by. Unfortunately, today was the worst day. Probably the fact I played yesterday, days adding up, it wasn’t helping at all.”
John Lloyd, former GB Davis Cup captain on BBC Two
We called it pretty quickly – he couldn’t serve above 115 mph from the start. Once Berdych hung in there and won the first set, Novak knew that there was no chance.
Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion on BBC Two
Most players have niggles and pains; nobody in the second week is 100% healthy. But only Djokovic can say how his body is. He knows whether he can play on or not.
It is the right decision. Murray and Djokovic were dominant last year but they are nowhere near that level now. It is a gruelling schedule and everybody else will put in that extra 10% to beat you.
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Top seed Gordon Reid says wonderful memories from last year’s triumph can inspire him to retain his wheelchair singles title at Wimbledon.
The 25-year-old Scot won the inaugural title with a 6-1 6-4 success against Stefan Olsson and begins his defence against the Swede on Thursday.
Reid is also the reigning doubles champion and again pairs up with England’s Alfie Hewett.
“It feels great to be back, it gets the excitement flowing,” said Reid.
“To be the first person to win the trophy was special and to retain it would be even better.
“I’ve got great memories but now it’s about focusing on trying to do the same this year. I’ll take it one match at a time.
“Stefan is in good form and enjoys playing on the grass, so it’s not going to be an easy match at all.”
Reid, who collected an MBE from the Queen in Edinburgh last week, added the first Wimbledon singles title to his Australian Open victory last year.
He began 2017 by collecting the doubles prize in Australia, completing the set of majors, with two previous French Open wins and US Open success in 2015.
“Singles-wise, this year has not been ideal but the doubles has been good,” Reid told BBC Scotland.
“Hopefully, I can use this tournament to get some confidence for the second half of the season.”
Reid, who also won Paralympic singles gold last year, recalls “drinking champagne with the Murray team” last year following Andy Murray’s second Wimbledon title.
Murray has reached the last eight as he attempts to defend his title and Reid is aiming for another Scottish double, with the help of some superstition.
“I’m trying to get the same lucky number 13 locker as last year,” he laughed.
“There’s someone else in there, so I’ve reserved it for when they leave.”
Following Andy Murray’s match on the centre court schedule on Wednesday will be the clash between Roger Federer …
Just a day after controversial decision making saw Novak Djokovic fail to play on Manic Monday, he finds himself back on…
ATPWorldTour.com previews the four quarter-final match-ups at Wimbledon
(3) Roger Federer v (6) Milos Raonic
Perhaps the most intriguing match of the day pits third seed Federer against sixth seed Raonic in a rematch of their 2016 Wimbledon semi-final, which saw the Canadian prevail in five sets. Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 9-3 and the pair have split their two Wimbledon matches, with Federer scoring a straight-sets win in the 2014 semi-finals.
Federer, contesting his 100th match at Wimbledon, has sailed into the last eight without losing a set. Meanwhile, Raonic nearly went two sets down in his second-round match with Mikhail Youzhny and survived a marathon five-setter with 10th seed Alexander Zverev. The Canadian hasn’t defeated a player inside the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings since his win over Federer last year, but is finally healthy after his right leg struggles throughout much of 2017 and playing his best tennis.
Should the Swiss maestro prevail, he would take over Jimmy Connors for the most Wimbledon semi-final appearances in the Open Era, with 12 in total.
(1) Andy Murray v (24) Sam Querrey
The top seed and defending champion carries a 25-match win streak against Americans into his quarter-final showdown with Querrey. He leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 7-1 and has won their past three matches. Murray also defeated Querrey in their lone match on grass at Wimbledon in 2010.
After surviving an epic third-round clash with 28th seed Fabio Fognini, Murray appears to have found a new level in his game. His consistency is back in full swing, with the Brit hitting just seven errors in his straight-sets win over Benoit Paire to reach the last eight.
If Murray wins, he will remain as World No. 1 when the newest standings are released on Monday. He’ll drop to No. 2 if he loses to Querrey and Djokovic takes the title.
Querrey has already scored a win over a World No. 1 at Wimbledon with his victory last year over Novak Djokovic and is eager for a repeat this fortnight. Buoyed by his serve and forehand, the American has shown impressive mental resilience in surviving back-to-back five-set matches over 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kevin Anderson to reach the quarter-finals. But should this match run long, fitness may come into play since Querrey has logged far more time on court than Murray.
If the American prevails, he’ll top the list for most attempts before reaching a maiden Grand Slam semi-final (42).
(2) Novak Djokovic v (11) Tomas Berdych
Although Djokovic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Berdych 25-2 and has won their past 12 matches, the Czech player beat Djokovic in the 2010 Wimbledon semi-finals. Berdych has always found a way to raise his game on the lawns of the All England Club and has looked sharp this fortnight, particularly in his five-set win over eighth seed Dominic Thiem in the fourth round.
Djokovic has continued to build on his title win at the Aegon International (d. Monfils), racing into the quarter-finals without losing a set. With 1992 Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi imparting grass-court wisdom into his ear, the Serbian is displaying the level of tennis that has brought him three titles here.
If the second seed prevails on Wednesday, he’ll surpass Jimmy Connors at second on the all-time list for most Grand Slam semi-final appearances with 32.
(7) Marin Cilic v (16) Gilles Muller
Cilic and Muller faced off last month on grass in the semi-finals of the Aegon Championships, with the Croatian prevailing in three sets. They’ve both racked up the most grass-court match wins at tour-level of any player this season, with Muller going 11-1 and Cilic posting a 10-2 record.
Cilic has been dominant with his serve all tournament long, hammering 70 aces as he raced into the quarter-finals without losing a set. Using that shot to set up his potent forehand, he’s continued to apply pressure on his opponents that allow him multiple opportunities to break.
Muller will be riding high after his epic five-set win over Nadal on Monday. His big lefty serve and penchant for serve-and-volley tennis is tailor made for grass, as evidenced by him prevailing last month at the Ricoh Open (d. Karlovic). He’s playing the best tennis of his career at age 34, sitting at a career-high No. 26 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. But after an emotionally charged win over Nadal that took nearly five hours, it remains to be seen how much Muller will have left in the tank if this match also runs long.