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.
