Watch highlights of defending champion Andy Murray’s shock first-round exit by world number 90 Jordan Thompson at Queen’s Club.
Legendary Italy and AC Milan footballer Paolo Maldini has qualified for a professional tennis tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The 48-year-old, capped 126 times by his country, won a qualifier in Italy with doubles partner Stefano Landonio.
Landonio, 46, was once ranked 975 in the world and has coached Maldini since he retired in 2009.
The pair will compete at the Aspria Tennis Cup, a Challenger Tour event in Milan which begins on 29 June.
The Challenger Tour is the tier below the top-level ATP World Tour, which features the best players in the world.
Maldini spent 31 years with AC Milan, 24 of them as a professional, winning seven league titles and the Champions League five times.
He will be 49 on the day the Aspria Tennis Cup begins, with 16 doubles pairings competing on clay.
British number three Dan Evans’ hopes of playing at Wimbledon are in doubt after he withdrew from next week’s Aegon International in Eastbourne.
The 27-year-old retired with a calf injury during his quarter-final against Dustin Brown at Surbiton two weeks ago.
He was seen on crutches at a tournament in Nottingham last week and has not competed at this week’s Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club.
The world number 50 has 13 days to recover before the start of Wimbledon.
| 2017 Aegon Championships |
|---|
| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Dates: 19-25 June |
| Coverage: Comprehensive live coverage on BBC One, BBC Two, Red Button, Connected TV and online daily |
Britain’s world number one Andy Murray will donate any winnings from the Aegon Championships at Queen’s to families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.
Murray, 30, can earn up to £350,000 in prize money by winning the tournament.
He starts his campaign for a sixth Queen’s title on Tuesday when he faces fellow Briton Aljaz Bedene.
Seventy nine people died or are missing presumed dead after the blaze at Grenfell Tower in Kensington last week.
The government has pledged to give £5,500 to all of those who lost their homes, with more than £200,000 of a £5m emergency fund so far given to families affected.
In 2013, Murray donated his £73,000 winnings from Queen’s to the Royal Marsden Centre, which had been treating his friend and Davis Cup doubles player Ross Hutchins for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
World No. 1 Andy Murray will start his campaign for a record sixth title at the Aegon Championships in London feeling much more confident than he was earlier this month amidst his struggles on clay.
The 30 year old started Roland Garros with a 4-4 record on the red dirt and entered the tournament having lost his last match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia to Italian Fabio Fognini.
But the Scot turned his clay season around in Paris, winning five consecutive matches to reach the semi-finals. Murray fell to Stan Wawrinka in a five-set battle. “I’m happier with where my game is at… Obviously I’m playing better now than I was before [Roland Garros] in practice. I have been hitting the ball a lot better than I was,” Murray said.
Yet the top seed in London believes he still has room for improvement as he kicks off his grass-court season in Great Britain. Murray said he’d like to see his serve as well as his movement get better as he once against becomes accustomed to the turf at The Queen’s Club. “I was a lot closer to where I want to be but still far from how I want to be playing,” he said.
Like Rafael Nadal’s accomplishments at Barcelona and Monte-Carlo, Murray’s achievements at The Queen’s Club are unparalleled. Last year, the Scot became the first man in the 126-year history of the tournament to win the event five times.
“This tournament over my career has been for sure my best tournament. I love playing here,” Murray said.
He will have the usual intense competition for the title. Every past champion since 2009 is in the field, including Marin Cilic (2012), Sam Querrey (2010) and Grigor Dimitrov (2014). Five of the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, including World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, are also in the draw.
“The field this year is really strong, as it is most years,” Murray said.
Read Draw Preview: Murray Faces Tough Path For More London History
Last year, Murray solved Milos Raonic’s serve just in time to win the record fifth title. The Scot went on to win his second Wimbledon title as well. He later claimed a third title in London with his first Nitto ATP Finals title.
Aegon Championships Title Leaders
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Andy Murray |
2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 |
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Andy Roddick |
2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 |
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Lleyton Hewitt |
2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 |
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Boris Becker |
1985, 1987, 1988, 1996 |
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John McEnroe |
1979, 1980, 1981, 1984 |
|
Roy Emerson |
1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 |
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Anthony Wilding |
1907, 1910, 1911, 1912 |
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Major J.G. Ritchie |
1902, 1904, 1906, 1909 |
The top seed is making his 12th Aegon Championships appearance, but his first as World No. 1. Murray boasts a remarkable 30-5 record at the event with titles in each of the past four odd years (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015). He is also on a 14-match win streak on grass and has a 125-26 record in Great Britain (.828).
Learn More In Murray’s FedEx ATP Win/Loss Section