From late-night text to mother’s fury: How the Murray-Raducanu Wimbledon saga unfolded

A whole 11 minutes after news broke that Emma Raducanu had pulled out from her mixed doubles appearance with her son, Judy Murray could not hide her feelings any longer.

“Yes, astonishing,” she punched into X, responding to a social-media post about the development. The undercurrent of disappointment in her monosyllabic response was telling.

Her sadness – shared by so many British tennis fans who had eagerly awaited the Muraducanu double act on Saturday evening – was understandable.

Two days earlier, her son had been granted a tear-jerking send-off which had left everyone watching on from Centre Court in bits. When the crowd spilled out of Wimbledon’s main showcourt at the end of the night, they did so with a spring in their step. With Andy Murray teaming up with Raducanu 48 hours later, they had one last hurrah to look forward to, one final appearance of the British great to savour on his farewell tour. Or so they thought.

All week, Raducanu had spoken with unbounded enthusiasm about the chance to team up with one of tennis’ most ardent servants. Together, they would join an elite tribe of tennis power couples who have graced the SW19 courts in mixed doubles – think Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi (2009, even though it was invitational) or Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters (2000).

Despite their vast age gap, it even had shades of Murray’s own iconic pairing with Serena Williams in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon five years ago. It was also symbolic – the ex-poster boy of British tennis passing the baton to its current poster girl who, despite struggling for consistency since her 2021 US Open title, remains one of the sport’s most marketable stars.

The significance of this VIP invitation was not lost on Raducanu. “I think some things are bigger than just tennis,” she told reporters following her second-round win over Elise Mertens on Wednesday evening. “Some things are a once-in-a-lifetime memory that you’re going to have for the rest of your life.

“To play at Wimbledon with Andy Murray, those things don’t come by. At the end of my life, at the end of my career when I’m 70 years old, I know I’m going to have that memory of playing Wimbledon with Andy Murray on a home slam. It was an honour to be asked.”

There was even a colourful backstory to how proceedings had unfolded. After Murray pulled out of his first-round match at the 11th hour on Tuesday morning, citing the back injury for which he had surgery on 11 days prior, many quarters assumed his Wimbledon career was all but over.

But Murray is the man that has kept on giving. He signalled his immediate intent to link up with brother Jamie in the men’s doubles, before hatching plans to give the British tennis scene one last parting gift. Aside from his scheduled appearance with his older brother – which was new ground for the siblings – this would be another last throw of the dice.

It was late that evening he plucked up the courage and asked Raducanu the question. Like a reporter trying to secure an unlikely interview with a sports star, he went the formal route and sense-checked the idea with Raducanu’s long-time coach, Nick Cavaday, as a cautious first step. “He said it was worth asking, so I did, and she said yeah, she’d be up for it,” said Murray.

The request was crafted in the most Gen Z way possible. A late-night text message – sent after 9pm. Murray assumed Raducanu would be asleep and did not expect to hear from her until the morning, but to his surprise his phone buzzed back almost instantly. “Yeah, let’s do it,” said Raducanu, who later revealed she made up her mind in “literally like 10 seconds”.

Over the next two days, the hype was dialled up. In a week where scheduling was blighted by unseasonably drab weather, the Murray-Raducanu double act became the hottest ticket in town. Raducanu was both pressed for further details for accepting Murray’s request and scrutinised over her decision. Did she worry that it would impact her joyous run in the singles? Had she thought about the possibility of burnout?

“In my team, they were asking me, ‘Emma, are you sure you want to play? Just in case … You’re still in the tournament,’” she said. “I was like ‘no-brainer’. Yeah, I think that gave me so much energy, and just knowing that I’d be able to have that opportunity and experience, it made me so happy and I slept very peacefully and woke up very happy as well.”

On Saturday morning, the mood was less jovial, despite the England top that Raducanu wore during her practice session, before her team issued a statement about her decision to withdraw because of stiffness in her right wrist.

The Muraducanu dream was over before it had scarcely begun.