Andy Murray made a dream comeback after a potentially career-ending hip injury. He won the Queen’s doubles championships along with playing partner Feliciano Lopez.
Murray and Lopez beat Briton Joe Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram 7-6(8-6) 5-7 10-5 in 1 hour and 51 minutes. With this win, Lopez won both the singles and the doubles title. On his way to the double win, Lopez created a unique record, he became the first player to win both the Queen’s singles and doubles title after Mark Philippoussis did it in 1997.
Murray was delighted after the win and commented:
“I’ve enjoyed it, I felt very relaxed at the beginning of the week, then I started getting more nervous as the week continued and my competitive instincts were kicking in, my hip felt great, there was no pain.”
Lopez commented on his double win:
“It happens maybe once in a lifetime, with how difficult it is to win the singles, I cannot believe I won both.”
Murray had never hoped that he will return to playing competitive tennis again; just 5 months back he was in tears during a press conference at the Australian Open when he described his fears of not returning to tennis again.
When Murray leapt into the air celebrating his win, all the centre court crowd stood rose to their feet to acknowledge his achievement.
The Match
In the 1st set Ram and Salisbury broke but Murray and Lopez bounced back to break in the 10th game and equal at 5-5. The set was decided in the tiebreak in favour of Murray and Lopez, who won it 7-6(8-6). At one stage in the set, Murray and Lopez were down 4-5 in the tiebreak but they saved a set point at 5-4 and ultimately won the set.
In the 2nd set, Ram and Salisbury created a single break in the set which helped them win it 7-5. The match was decided in a tiebreak which went into the favour of Murray and Lopez 10-5.
Lopez made some extraordinary effort as well, after playing for a little less than 3 hours to win his singles title, he was back in court in a few hours time only for this great effort.
Lopez expressed his happiness on Scot’s return to the court:
“I’m so happy to have this man playing with me, we’re so happy that you’re back on a tennis court.”
Nearly six months out. Major hip operation. You wouldn’t know it…@andy_murray marks his comeback with the @QueensTennis doubles title alongside @feliciano_lopez 👏
🎥: @TennisTV
pic.twitter.com/Pv9b2oSLkk— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 23, 2019
A GREAT COMEBACK!
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