Murray Makes Winning Return with Lopez on Day of Upsets in Singles at Queen’s Club
(June 20, 2019) Days before the Australian Open back in January, Andy Murray was in tears, saying that he was going to retire after Wimbledon. After another surgery on his right hip, the three-time major champion was back on the court winning a doubles match with Feliciano Lopez upsetting No. 1 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah at the Queen’s Club 7-6 (5), 6-3.
“I expected to, you know, enjoy the match because I told myself I was going to regardless of what happened,” Murray said to media. “I spoke a bit about that with, you know, my coach and my team, like, regardless of the result, like, you need to make sure you enjoy this, because a few months ago I had no clue whether I’d be back playing on a court.
“And to feel as well as I did there — not perfect, you know, in terms of, like, everything, like my movement and things, but pain-free and stuff, I mean, yeah, I enjoyed it.
“You know, Feli played extremely well, too, which helped. Obviously nice to win. But for me, that wasn’t the No. 1 priority today.”
“This felt different to last year, because last year when I came in and played, I mean, my hip felt very average, like, I was still pretty uncomfortable and I had done a lot of training. Things weren’t really getting better. Whereas now I feel like although I’m not, you know, at my best kind of physically, I feel like I’m always making improvements and I have, you know, no pain.
“So it felt different in that respect. I feel like I’m going to continue to progress. It was fun and enjoyable. Last year when I came on the court, I was quite emotional and stuff, because I hadn’t played for a long time but didn’t get loads of enjoyment out of the match. I was more worried about my hip than anything
“I was a bit slow at the beginning but got better as the match went along. I’m really fortunate to be playing tennis again.”
Murray announced that he’d be playing doubles at Wimbledon with Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The Scotsman is also hoping to play Mixed Doubles also but so far no takers.
“I have spoken to a couple of players. I’ve been rejected a couple of times so far,” Murray said with a smile.
“But, yeah, if I’m feeling good, yeah, I will. I sort of asked a couple of people to play, but I need to wait and see how I’m feeling first, and if I feel good, then I would like to, yeah.”
“I asked singles players who had already committed to playing doubles, and they didn’t want to commit to playing in three events, which I completely understand because it’s a lot. If you have ambitions to go far in the singles, you maybe don’t want to commit to playing all three.”
In singles play, some players had to play two matches in one day due to the rain pushing back play earlier in the week, and it caused a few upsets. Defending champion Marin Cilic lost to Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4, Kevin Anderson, the 2nd seed lost to Gilles Simon 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and former champion Grigor Dimitrov lost to up and coming Canadian Felix Auger-Alliasime 6-4, 6-4.
No. 1 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won two matches in one day defeating Kyle Edmund and then Jeremy Chardy.
Australian Nick Kyrgios cursed at tennis officials and accused them of “rigging” in his first match of the day, when he beat Roberto Carballes Baena, which he won 7-6 (4), 6-3. Kyrgios lost his second match of the day to Auger-Alliasime , 6-7(4), 7-6 (3), 7-5.
“Thought the calls were pretty ordinary all day, to be honest,” noted Kyrgios. “That’s what you get when you play on an outside-court without Hawk-Eye.
“I knew some of the calls weren’t going to be great. I thought some of the calls were outrageous today. It shouldn’t have to come down to me and Felix giving each other points. He gave me a point at a pretty crucial time, and I gave him a point at a pretty crucial time.
“I just don’t think, at this level of sport, that we should have line judges and umpires that aren’t making the right decisions. And I know what happens. Nothing happens. They get a little slap on the wrist. I had a conversation with them in Miami after I got fined again for their mistake.
“You know, they don’t get any warning or fine or anything for their mistakes. So what’s the difference? For me doing a code violation, why can’t they get fined for having a terrible day in the chair? Like, there’s hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. It’s not a joke. They just think it’s a joke because nothing happens to them after the match. They don’t get any investigation or anything.
“I think it’s ridiculous. Like, why not have another umpire ready to come in if that guy’s have a terrible day? I don’t understand. I have to pay the fines for it. The calls are horrendous, but I get fined and he gets nothing. It’s like a black star. I don’t know what happens. It’s rubbish.”
Juan Martin del Potro’s management announced that the Argentine player will undergo surgery for a fractured kneecap. The same knee he injured in October last year that required surgery.
