Doubles trouble: Murray admits it will be difficult to face brother

Former world number one Andy Murray conceded on Saturday it will be tough to face his brother Jamie should they play each other in the third round of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon.

The 32-year-old Scotsman will end up in that scenario should he and his third partner in as many weeks, Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert and older brother Jamie and his partner Neal Skupski make it through.

The younger Murray returned with aplomb following “life-changing hip surgery” winning the Queen’s doubles tournament with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez last weekend.

However, he came back down to earth with a first round exit at Eastbourne alongside Marcelo Melo.

The main boost, though, has been his hip has not registered any pain and he is even mulling over a return to singles, potentially for the US Open.

Murray, though, is more focussed on coming through Wimbledon first — an arena where he won two of his three Grand Slam singles titles and the first of his two Olympic singles crowns.

“I mean, if we play each other, it would be difficult in some respects,” said Murray.

“You’re competing against your brother, biggest tennis event in the world.

“At the same time I’d rather be on the same side of the net with him.

“But it’s cool if we did get the opportunity, that we’d be doing it on the biggest stage in our sport, as well, which would be nice.

“We’ll see if we get there.”

– ‘Pretty solid partner‘ –
Murray, who suggested that more top singles players might play doubles at the Slams if matches were reduced from five sets, said having Jamie around when they were growing up had been excellent for developing their sporting skills.

Jamie has gone on to win two Grand Slam doubles titles and he and his younger brother teamed up to win the Davis Cup in 2015.

“I guess tennis-wise, in central Scotland, there were not lots of top tennis players when we were growing up,” he said.

“So having Jamie to play against and compete against up until we were kind of 14, 15, was obviously a big help.

“We did everything together, whether that was golf, gymnastics, squash, table tennis, swimming.

“There’s a lot of transferrable skills from sport to sport.

“We play a reasonable level of golf,” added Murray, who prior to Queen’s bashfully admitted he and Jamie had gone round shooting rounds of over 100.

As regards his seemingly fruitless search for a mixed doubles partner his eyes lit up when he heard American legend Serena Williams might not be averse to an approach.

“I mean, obviously she’s arguably the best player ever,” he said.

“It would be a pretty solid partner.”