Latest news with #GrassCourt
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Sport
- The Independent
‘Nervous' Emma Raducanu enjoys win with Katie Boulter in rare doubles outing
Emma Raducanu confessed she was 'very nervous' before making her Queen's Club debut with doubles partner Katie Boulter after the British pair secured a 6-4 6-2 victory over Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu. Raducanu had before this played doubles just once, partnering Clara Tauson in round one of the 2022 Washington Open, and alongside Boulter was fully backed by the home crowd on the packed and more intimate Court One. The WTA 500 event marks the first time in 52 years Queen's has hosted women's tennis, and while the pairing of British number one Boulter and number two Raducanu were not quite ready to submit their entries to Wimbledon, there were hugs and fist-pumps aplenty as they got their grass court seasons underway. 'I was actually very nervous before the match,' said 2021 US Open champion Raducanu, who has drawn a to be determined qualifier for her opening singles match. 'I don't know if you could tell, but, yeah, probably more nervous than the singles, because I just didn't necessarily know what to do. 'I'm really happy once we got out there, Katie made me feel so comfortable, and I'm just so pleased to get a win.' This Queen's partnership, Raducanu revealed, came 'spontaneously', after a few close calls where she and Boulter nearly joined forces at Madrid, Paris and Miami. Asked it could extend as far as Wimbledon, Raducanu replied: 'We haven't spoken about it. It worked pretty well, so we're just going to keep on trying to do as best we can this week.' Boulter joked: 'Scrap what she said – we're going for the Wimbledon title! No, I'm just kidding.' The British pair claimed an early break in the first set and extended their lead to 4-2 before Wu and Jiang drew level at 4-4. Boulter and Raducanu broke back and eventually claimed the opening set, converting their second set point. Momentum in their favour, the Britons made quicker work of the pair from China and Chinese Taipei in the second set, sealed emphatically by Raducanu's volley.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Andy Murray to have stadium named after him ahead of Wimbledon as he makes first return since retiring
ANDY MURRAY will return to UK grass next Monday – as an interim stadium is named in his honour. Next week Queen's Club in south-west London will host its first WTA event for 52 years and this will lead straight into the annual ATP men's tournament. 3 3 3 A temporary fans' seating area, which is currently being erected on the Barons Court site, will be named the ' Andy Murray Arena' in honour of the British sporting icon, a two-time Wimbledon champion. "Andy is the greatest tennis player ever to come from this country and a giant of British sport," LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd said in a statement. "We are proud to name the arena at our tournament at the Queen's Club after him." Murray, who recently split from Novak Djokovic's coaching group, will attend an unveiling ceremony on Monday. This will be his first gig on the grass since the last Wimbledon Championships and since he retired. The 38-year-old laid down his racquet following the Paris 2024 Olympics and had a farewell celebration on Wimbledon's Centre Court last July. The Scotsman won a record five Queen's singles titles between 2009 and 2016. And in 2019, five months after career-saving hip resurfacing surgery, he lifted the doubles titles with Feliciano Lopez. Wimbledon are dispensing with line judges this month and will use Electronic Line Calling instead. The system will also be in place at Queen's for both the WTA and ATP weeks. Unlike contemporary Roger Federer, who spent a lot of his early retirement away from the sport, Murray has remained a regular face at the sport's main events. Alongside coaching Djokovic at the Australian Open in his brief stint, the Scot joined Rafael Nadal for his retirement ceremony at the French Open last week side-by-side with the fellow "Big Four" crew.
