‘Comfortable’ Raducanu gears up for Wimbledon with Murray locked in race against time

Emma Raducanu, in an England football strip for practice, is in her third Wimbledon. Photograph: John Walton/PA

During her relatively short time as a professional tennis player, Emma Raducanu has never known Wimbledon without chaos. In her debut in 2021, having spent the prior months away from tennis altogether to focus on her A-levels at the height of Covid, she reached the fourth round before dramatically retiring due to breathing difficulties. The next year, she injured an ankle early in her opening match on grass at the Nottingham Open and was barely ready in time. Last year, she did not even make it to the starting blocks.

For once, things seem relaxed in Raducanu’s world. She returns for her third Wimbledon after months of consistent training, with a growing number of matches under her belt and also, essentially, wins. She has reached the semi-finals in Nottingham and the quarter-finals in Eastbourne, where she clinched her first win over a top-10 player by defeating Jessica Pegula, the world No 5. As she finishes her preparationsfor SW19, Raducanu says she is the most settled she has been for some time.

“I feel a lot more comfortable this year,” she said. “There’s a lot less going on. There’s a lot less stress or chaos. I’m more just coming here, doing my practice, playing the match. Like there’s not much else to it whereas in 2022 I was in a big rush. Would I be able to play? Would I not? And then last year obviously missing it and in 2021, I lost in a Brit Tour like a month before so I was not really feeling amazing. So I think that this is the most settled I’ve been in a while.”

That preparation will be essential as she returns to Centre Court on Monday for a difficult first-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 22nd seed. The Russian may have a lower profile compared to most in her ranking bracket but she is a formidable player who has established herself as a perennial seeded player at the major tournaments and her flat, offensive ball striking best suits grass courts. Alexandrova is also one of only four players this year to defeat Iga Swiatek, scuppering the world No 1 at the Miami Open.

There could not be a greater contrast between the calm around Great Britain’s most recent grand slam champion and the chaos around the most recent men’s champion from these shores. Andy Murray continues to do everything he can to be fit for his final Wimbledon. He will not make a decision regarding his participation in his scheduled first-round match against Tomas Machac on Tuesday until the latest possible moment.

“It’s been obviously a tough 10 days or so since Queen’s,” he said during his press conference on Sunday. “Obviously had the operation on the back, which wasn’t insignificant. Just been trying to do everything that I can to try and get ready to start the tournament here. I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. I’ve been practising for the last few days. I played a set today. It went pretty well, but I still don’t have 100% sort of feeling and sensation in my leg yet.”

Murray underwent surgery last Saturday after withdrawing early in his second-round match against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s as he struggled even to walk. The injury was eventually identified as a spinal cyst and as Murray underwent surgery to remove the cyst, some of the advice he received was that he would be out for six to 12 weeks and he had no chance of making it to Wimbledon.

Throughout his career, the 37-year-oldhas spent his time defying negative predictions and opinions, and this is no different. By his own telling, he seems to have made remarkable progress in the space of a week and he feels like he is improving every single day.

“If I keep progressing like I have been for the next three, four days, before the doubles starts, then … I played a set today against a good player. Was playing well,” Murray said. “Hitting the ball well. Did absolutely fine. I’m hoping that with each day that passes that the likelihood of me being able to play will increase. It’s impossible for me to say because I also want to go out there, like I said, and be able to play to a level that I’m happy with. I don’t want to be in a situation like at Queen’s. I don’t want to go on the court and, yeah, it to be awkward or not be able to at least be competitive.” For now, Murray’s greatest opponent is time.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz, the third seed and defending champion, will open on Centre Court with a seemingly comfortable opener against Mark Lajal, an Estonian qualifier ranked No 262.

There will be significant attention around Aryna Sabalenka, the women’s third seed, who perhaps would have been tournament favourite but begins the event struggling with a shoulder injury and who has admitted she has done minimal serving. A year after losing in the first round, meanwhile, Coco Gauff returns on Centre Court as the US Open champion and second seed.

Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens once played for a spot in the 2013 Australian Open final, an extremely contentious and dramatic match, yet this time the two grand slam champions will battle in the first round.

By the end of the first day, one of the most significant early-round matches of the tournament could become a reality as Jannik Sinner, the top seed, and Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist and one of the best grass-court players of his generation, are slated to meet in a second-round match that would see the two best Italian players of the past few decades came face to face.