Britain’s two highest-ranked players – Katie Boulter and Jack Draper – have praised Andy Murray’s contribution to tennis in comments that contrasted noticeably with Emma Raducanu’s much chillier take from Friday afternoon.
Raducanu had raised eyebrows on Friday by suggesting that Murray’s career is “old news”, adding that “it doesn’t feel different at all [now that he has retired].”
The response to Raducanu’s comments was mixed. Some observers pointed out that it was factually correct – the game does indeed stop for nobody – while others speculated that her apparent coldness towards Murray might be connected to the summer’s controversy over her 11th-hour withdrawal from their planned mixed-doubles appointment at Wimbledon.
Either way, there was a very different tone to Boulter’s take when she responded to a similar question about Murray’s impact on Saturday.
“He’s been so well established in the British tennis system for so long now, he’s kind of been the one holding us all up,” said Boulter of Murray. “He’s been there the whole entire time, and I don’t take that for granted. I think everything that he’s done for us is incredible.
“I was there [at the National Tennis Centre in south-west London] since I was 13 years old, so I saw him quite a bit,” added Boulter, who is now working with Murray’s former fitness trainer Matt Little.
“I was obviously too scared to go up to him and speak to him like a little 14-year-old girl would be. But I think just even being in the same atmosphere as him, you feel his presence, you feel he’s in there. You see what he’s doing, you see how he’s working. I think that showed me a lot about how to work, and I think that’s really important.”
As Murray leaves the stage, having participated in 60 major tournaments over a 20-year period, the 22-year-old Draper is the man most likely to take up his mantle. A left-hander with a booming serve and an assiduous work ethic, Draper beat defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s and won his first ATP Tour title earlier this summer.
“I do miss his presence a lot,” said Draper. “I grew up thinking Andy would be the most professional guy on the planet. And he is. He’s mad about getting everything perfect, watching video slow-mos of his serve and all this sort of stuff.
“When you’re in the locker room before matches, and you’ve got someone as great as Andy sat next to you, it’s mad to be sitting next to one of your idols from a young age,” added Draper, who also made humorous mention of Murray’s messy habits and “rancid, stinking shoes”.
“Not to have him here anymore is obviously difficult,” concluded Draper, who will play China’s Zhang Zhizhen on Tuesday in a challenging first-round match. “Maybe one day he’ll be more around on the coaching scene, doing his thing, but, yeah, I definitely miss the camaraderie and the nonsense chat, and the banter, and the serious chats, as well, that he used to bring.”