'Compelling on and off court' – a decade on tour with Murray
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller writes about his experience of getting to know Andy Murray throughout his career.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller writes about his experience of getting to know Andy Murray throughout his career.
Ben Shelton survived his third five-setter of the fortnight Saturday to reach the fourth round at The Championships for the first time, setting a clash against top seed Jannik Sinner.
The 14th seed battled past 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in three hours and four minutes to become the first left-handed American man to make the fourth round at SW19 since John McEnroe in 1992.
Ben bringing the energy as always ⚡️
R4 awaits after a win against Shapovalov 🔥<a href=”https://twitter.com/Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon | <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/qCoJ79vjkX
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 6, 2024
Shelton did it with a familiar face in the stands. Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was at No. 1 Court to check out the action with his parents and longtime agent Tony Godsick. Federer’s agency, TEAM8, manages Shelton.
The American rallied from two-sets-to-one down in his first two matches against Mattia Bellucci and Lloyd Harris, respectively. On Saturday, he led by two sets to one and ultimately completed his victory by surging through his 15th set of the tournament.
[ATP APP]Shelton won the match by dominating the short points, winning the rallies of zero to four shots by a 131-107 margin. He won 81 per cent of his first-serve points and struck 38 winners to make the fourth round at a third major, having already accomplished the feat at the Australian Open (QF) and the US Open (SF).
Sinner advanced to the fourth round on Friday, while Shelton and Shapovalov were unable to complete a set before rain suspended play for the evening. The Italian leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-1. All three of their clashes have come within the past 10 months.
Shelton is now 6-2 in five-setters after clawing post Shapovalov. The Canadian, No. 136 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, showed he is on his way back to the form that helped him crack the world’s Top 10.
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Play is suspended at Wimbledon early on Saturday due to rain.
The first two men’s singles matches scheduled are Emil Ruusuvuori against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and 16th seed Ugo Humbert against Brandon Nakashima. In the second of those matches, play will resume with the start of the fourth-set tie-break, with Humbert leading 7-6(9), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-6.
[ATP APP]Ninth seed Alex de Minaur has advanced to the fourth round by walkover. Lucas Pouille, the former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has withdrawn due to an abdominal injury.
De Minaur has matched his best result at The Championships, having also made the fourth round at SW19 in 2022. The Australian will next play Arthur Fils or Roman Safiullin.
Centre Court and No. 1 Court will both have action beginning in the afternoon regardless of the rain. Fourth seed Alexander Zverev faces Cameron Norrie on Centre Court at 1:30 p.m. The German leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-0.
Fourteenth seed Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov resume their match on No. 1 Court at 1 p.m., with Shelton leading 3-2.
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Dustin Brown won a doubles match on Friday at Wimbledon alongside Sebastian Baez. But beyond the surface of the match result in his first appearance at The Championships since 2019 lay plenty of pain and wondering whether the fans’ favourite would ever compete again.
“I was literally struggling to walk. I was going outside walking with my dog and my dog was looking at me like, ‘Oh, can I please go?’ My wife normally walks the dog too, so the dog was probably looking at me thinking, ‘Please can I go with mom?’” Brown recalled to ATPTour.com. “I would walk three, 400 metres, I had to take a break [because of] the nerve pain, the pulling. Then the back, everyone that has a disc issue knows when the back is not straight, you’re not sleeping and after not sleeping for a couple of days, you’re also irritated and not very nice to be around. So yeah, it was definitely very likely [I would never play again].”
Brown has struggled with back issues since February 2017, when he first felt it in Montpellier. He has had a bulged disc among other problems and has not played a full season since.
One year ago in Stuttgart, Brown was told that his disc had ruptured on the inside and the fluid inside leaked into the spinal cord, which did not allow much space for the nerve.
“It’s not a nice feeling, so that was a lot of pain. No sleeping, I was having issues walking,” Brown said. “So to be here a couple of months later, and being able to play and also play on this level and for the body to allow me to do this — because that’s the thing where sometimes you have the best ideas, best plans, but the body just says no, no further — I’m very happy that it all worked out and that I’m here now.”
The Stuttgart event took place last June. By February of this year, he realised if he was going to play he needed to slowly get on court. When he began training, he was walking, but not moving and certainly not playing with the intensity he is now.
“The past couple of months are where it’s gotten so much better,” Brown said, before pointing out issues he still struggles with. “My foot on the left side, some of my toes are still partly numb. The left foot doesn’t feel like the right foot, so your body needs to get used to that. And after a while, it kind of becomes normal. That’s a process in itself and also trusting [your body]. It was a very, very long time that I didn’t serve.”
For more than seven months, Brown did not serve. The Jamaican was unsure whether he would play again so he thought if it was not certain, there was no reason to try it. Hitting a serve is when he felt a pop last year in Stuttgart.
But then Frances Tiafoe agreed to compete with him at Roland Garros, which set in motion a return to action. Wimbledon is his fifth tournament back.
Brown has long been known as one of the most entertaining players to watch on the ATP Tour — his diving volleys were a fixture on the circuit. The 39-year-old might not be physically where he once was, but is still trying his best to enjoy it.
“That’s one of the things that I’ve tried to make a goal for the last tournaments that I’m going to play — is to try and have fun. Obviously, it’s a lot easier when you’re playing well, after being injured that long and not playing and not knowing if I could play when I started playing a couple of months ago,” Brown said. “Obviously, the tennis was not where I wanted it. I’ve been practising well after a certain time when I could after the injury, but then obviously not having any matches, nerves and stuff like that, things happen.”
One year ago, Brown visited Wimbledon on a guest credential through fellow player and friend Lucas Miedler. But the former No. 64 in the PIF ATP Rankings did not stay at SW19 long.
“It was tough to be here and not to play. So I spent a little bit of time with him, had a coffee, and I told him ‘Listen, I’ve got to go, because this is not a nice feeling’,” Brown said. “At that time, it was fresh after the injury. I didn’t know if I was going to play again and what my plans would be, and obviously, it was going to take a bunch of time just to see what my body could handle.”
[ATP APP]Now Brown is back and having a great time at a tournament where he made the third round twice during his career. The Jamaican stunned Rafael Nadal on Centre Court in 2015, marking one of the biggest upsets of the 21st century.
“That’s probably what I get remembered for, which is great. Not everyone gets a chance to play on that court, first of all. Then to play a match like that and win that way against such a champion, it’s very interesting,” Brown said. “Sometimes I’m on social media and a random video pops up and I was like, ‘Damn, I was not too bad!’ So it’s nice to see that and it’s nice when people remember that. Obviously, there were other special moments in my career, but obviously, that’s one of the biggest ones.”
On Thursday evening, Brown was commentating on Andy Murray’s doubles match for Amazon Prime Germany. It is fitting, as he broke onto the scene at the 2010 US Open against Murray. Brown recalled how emotional the moment was as the Scot was honoured.
“He really deserved it. Me being injured myself or having injuries, he had to get surgery and to have surgery two weeks ago and to be here and play at all, it takes a lot of dedication,” Brown said. “You also need to be able to handle a lot of pain. And I’m very happy that even though he wasn’t able to play singles, he was able to get his send off on his home court and he deserved it.”
Brown made sure to thank Baez for sticking around following a first-round singles loss to compete with him and allow for one more special ride at the All England Club. The 39-year-old admitted that it is possible this could be his final tournament, depending on if he gets into tournaments. The best-case scenario for him is to retire after next year’s Australian Open.
For now, he will focus on his team’s next match against Sebastian Ofner and Sam Weissborn.
Watch some of the best shots as top seed Jannik Sinner sails through a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
On Wednesday evening, before Lucas Pouille played his second-round match at The Championships, he enjoyed a video call with his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Rose.
“She told me ‘Dad, you have to stop. You lose, you win, you lose, you lose, you lose. Stop putting the ball in the net!’” Pouille told ATPTour.com. “She told me that and I was like, ‘Yeah, you will understand later. But that will happen again and again’.
‘Yeah, but when you do that you lose!’
“It was funny. We spent 20, 25 minutes talking and she was talking alone about this. It’s great.”
Pouille took his daughter’s advice to heart. On Thursday, the Frenchman advanced past Thanasi Kokkinakis, who retired in the third set, to reach the third round at a major for the first time since Wimbledon in 2019.
“That’s what I’ve been looking for for ages now. The last time I was in third round of a Grand Slam was 2019, so a long time ago,” Pouille said. “I think I’m just proud of myself for the way I’m working with my team, the way I give myself a chance to compete in this kind of event, and the way I’ve been working the past month or the past six months, year, two years, have been incredible. So I’m just pleased that it’s working now.”
[ATP APP]Most importantly, Pouille is thrilled to be showing his daughter what he is capable of. Before Rose was born, the Frenchman was one of the very best tennis players in the world. In 2018 he reached a career-high No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings and by the year’s end he was a five-time ATP Tour titlist.
But since reaching the 2019 Australian Open semi-finals, Pouille has struggled to find consistent health and form. This time last year, the Frenchman was finding his form when he hurt his back during the last round of Wimbledon qualifying, suffering a stress fracture. When he returned in September, Pouille tore an abdominal muscle.
The No. 148 player in the PIF ATP Live Rankings has not stopped pushing forward, though. Pouille is trying to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for just the second time and has plenty of motivation in his daughter. After defeating Laslo Djere in five sets in the first round, Pouille received a video of Rose celebrating.
“That’s the first thing I saw when I came into the locker room. I took my phone just hoping that I was receiving a picture of my daughter, and she sent me the video. Honestly, that’s the only thing that matters at the moment when you look at this. It’s unreal,” Pouille said. “Now that she’s starting to understand what is winning and what is losing, it’s just great to show how happy she was.”
Despite being just three-and-a-half years old, Rose plays tennis sometimes.
“Every time she comes to a tournament and we finish a practice, she wants to hit a few balls. So I give her the racquet and we play. But yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see if she will play or not. That’s going to be her choice,” Pouille said. “There is no doubt she wins [when we play]. She cannot lose. Even when she loses, she says she won. So I say, ‘Okay, you won’.”
Pouille added: “That’s the most important thing now in my life. So obviously, it’s helping to see some positives when you’re in bad times. But yeah, it helps. I just want to be back where I want to be so she can also enjoy life on Tour and see me play.”
Gerard Tsobanian has managed Pouille since the end of 2016. He explained that Pouille has been on the top of the sport, knows his quality and wants to enjoy it more and make those successes happen again.
“He knows that when he finishes it’s never going to come back,” Tsobanian said. “He will be away from the courts and not feel again the moments like walking through Wimbledon and player lockers, on the courts, feeling the crowd. That’s what made him stick and dig deep and stick around and work hard again.”
According to Tsobanian, there is one formula that has consistently proven correct over the years and it is one Pouille has been following.
“When you work hard, the results come,” Tsobanian said. “If it’s not tomorrow, it’s in two days or one week or one month or 10 months that it comes. You have to keep working hard and the reward will come. So that’s what should be remembered — never give up. It’s easy to say but keep on working.”
Pouille paused to reflect on his journey over the past five years. For a man who has achieved some of the greatest highs in the sport — reaching the Top 10, winning titles and even defeating Rafael Nadal at the 2016 US Open — the Frenchman has learned just as much, if not more, from his toughest moments.
“I think that after tough times, you always have good times if you give yourself a chance to make it,” Pouille said. “When you put in the work, anything is possible, and you can come back in life in general. It’s normal to feel bad at some point. It’s normal to live [through] some tough times. But you have to do everything to turn it around and to find a better moment.”
Wimbledon has long been a special place for Pouille, who made his first major quarter-final at the event in 2016. When the Frenchman qualified for the main draw at this edition, he told his coach he wanted to go for a walk at Wimbledon just to soak in the moment and enjoy the “beautiful” venue. Now Pouille will try to keep the magic going against ninth seed Alex de Minaur.
“Every match, especially in tennis, anything is possible. We’ve seen that,” Pouille said. “I am going to recover as good as possible and give myself a chance to be 100 per cent on the court Saturday, and hopefully win the match.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Andy Murray will continue his Wimbledon farewell when he teams up with Emma Raducanu in the mixed doubles on Saturday.