Andy Murray given boost to Wimbledon title chances as doubles partner loses
The hopes of a nation that Andy Murray can triumph again at Wimbledon were given a massive bonus after his doubles partner was knocked out of the men’s singles
Andy Murray probably wasn’t hoping his partner would lose but he wont be complaining as Pierre-Hugues Herbert can now concentrate on helping Murray win the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon to sit alongside his two Wimbledon men’s singles trophies.
Herbert is an accomplished singles player but a brilliant doubles player who has won all four of the doubles Grand Slam titles on offer. His first round in this year’s Wimbledon men’s singles was always going to be a tough ask as his opponent was the giant finalist from 2018, South African Kevin Anderson.
Herbert went down in three straight sets, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 and is now free to completely focus on the doubles with Murray.
Andy Murray played last week at Eastbourne with another new partner, Brazilian Marcelo Melo, but lost in the first round to No.1 seeds Juan-Sebastien Cabal and Robert Farah who Murray had managed to beat in the previous week at Queen’s Club. The ‘Melo Murray’ partnership never seemed to gel quite as well as his partnership with Feliciano Lopez the previous week but for Murray it was another chance to practise under match conditions and to continue the work on his recovery from life changing hip surgery.
This week in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon Murray and Herbert have drawn Marius Copil and Ugo Humbert in the first round before a potential family clash with his brother Jamie in the 3rd round.
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