Andy Murray’s team were given a different reason for Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from Wimbledon’s mixed doubles from the excuse given in her public statement, sources have claimed.
The game, which had been due to take place on Saturday night, was to have been Murray’s final appearance at the tournament.
It is understood that Raducanu, the US Open winner and British Women’s No 3, told the Murray camp on Friday evening that she was pulling out of the event but she gave a different reason to the one shared in a public statement via her agent on Saturday.
Sources close to the Murray camp told The Times on Sunday: “The surprise was more to do with the explanation given publicly and less about the withdrawal itself.”
Raducanu, 21, said she had made the “very difficult” move to pull out of her partnership with Murray, whose Wimbledon career is now over, because of stiffness in her wrist following her third-round match. Murray’s mother, clearly piqued, described the withdrawal as “astonishing” on social media.
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Raducanu was knocked out of Wimbledon in a dramatic three-set match by Lulu Sun, a Wimbledon qualifier ranked 123 in the world. Sun made history by becoming the first female New Zealand woman to reach a quarter-final at the All England Club.
Playing with Murray could have meant being out on court at 11pm last night, since their doubles match was scheduled as the last of the day on Court No 1. Judy Murray tweeted on Sunday morning that the scheduling “will have played a major part in any decision making”.
Raducanu, who has undergone wrist surgery, has been cautious in her scheduling this year and opted to miss the clay-court French Open to ensure that she was in peak condition for the British grass-court season.
She had been enjoying her best run in the Wimbledon singles after beating Maria Sakkari, the Greek No 9 seed, on Friday.
In a post-match press conference, Raducanu said she had not seen Judy Murray’s comment. “I haven’t seen her reaction so I don’t know, [but] I’m sure she didn’t mean it,” she said.
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Asked if online trolling in reaction to the mixed doubles decisions affected her game, she said: “With every decision people were entitled to their opinions. Of course, there was a bit of a cloud around the decision but I don’t think I would have done it any other way.
“In this sport, especially as an individual you have to, you have to make your own calls and prioritise yourself and, especially with my history, I just had to put myself first.”
The disappointment in the Murray camp follows Raducanu’s earlier enthusiasm for playing as his partner in his last competitive appearance at Wimbledon.
Murray, 37, who has twice won the Wimbledon men’s singles championship, asked Raducanu to play mixed doubles with him on Tuesday evening after he pulled out of the men’s singles with injury.
Raducanu said she “couldn’t say no”, adding that Murray is a “hero to us all” and that playing a part in his Wimbledon send-off was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
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She added: “Some things are bigger than just tennis. At the end of my life, at the end of my career, when I’m like 70 years old, I know I’m going to have that memory of playing Wimbledon with Andy Murray on a home slam.”
Murray played the men’s doubles with his older brother Jamie on Thursday in which they were defeated in straight sets. This will now have been his last match at Wimbledon. In doubles, players cannot be substituted once the drawer has been made so the pairing has to drop out.
However, after the men’s doubles match, an event attended by some of the sport’s greats, the All England Tennis Club staged Murray’s public send-off with a montage of his career played on Centre Court screens. His professional career will now end at the Paris Olympics.
Raducanu’s representatives were contacted for comment.
