Boffo box office, they call it in Hollywood. On Day Six at Wimbledon 2019, in front of a rapturous Centre Court crowd and a television audience surely in the bajillions, one of the starriest mixed doubles alliances in the history of starry mixed doubles alliances finally got down to business.
Residents of Mars may not have heard that Andy Murray and Serena Williams were teaming up here, but Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi certainly had – it was the fate of the German-Chilean duo to draw the dream team in the first round. After a 24-hour postponement – the singles tennis here being pretty darn exciting too – Saturday evening delivered a contest that was as fun as it was fierce before the dream team emerged triumphant 6-4, 6-1, exchanging high fives, kisses and smiles in acknowledgment of a job well done.
“It worked out well,” declared Serena. “We’re a new team and that’s always a learning curve. We wanted to start fast. We take it seriously. That’s why we’re in it.”
A short while after they came off court, Serena was even more enthusiastic: “For me, it's definitely awesome to share a court with Andy, especially this particular stage.”
Murray, too, was full of praise for his new partner: “After the amount of success that someone like Serena has had for such a long period, to still be out there, eight o’clock at night, having already won a singles, and just wanting to win and being competitive. That's impressive. I don't think people always appreciate how difficult that is to do. Serena and Roger have done it for such a long period, it’s taken for granted a little bit. But it's impressive.”
Asked which of them is the boss in the partnership, Williams reached for the trusty bumper sticker slogan: “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’.” Then Murray chipped in: “We’re both younger siblings, and we’re used to being bossed by the older one. It was a good start.”
Actually, it looked very much as if Serena was calling the plays on court, which made perfect sense. By all means, this Scottish-American partnership brought so many career Grand Slam titles to this particular party that it was a wonder they could move. But Murray would be the first to acknowledge that Serena’s collection somewhat outweighs his own, especially when the count is limited to Wimbledon doubles crowns – she has six with older sister Venus, along with the mixed as a 16-year-old with Max Mirnyi back in (gasp) 1998, when her current mixed doubles partner was a wee lad of 11.
Meanwhile, Mies and Guarachi, both aged 28, were new names to most present, which in the latter’s case was not so surprising as she has not been beyond the first round in the doubles at a Grand Slam. But those rooting for Murray and Williams needed to keep their eye on Mies, who has very recent form as a party pooper. Just last month at Roland-Garros, he and Kevin Krawietz were shock winners of the men’s doubles when unseeded on the Paris clay, dismaying the home crowd by trampling Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the final.
Murray had already experienced one reverse on Day Six, as he and Pierre-Hugues Herbert were seen off in round two of the doubles by the No.6 seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor on No.2 Court. Serena, meanwhile, fared better in her own previous match played on Saturday, easing past Julia Goerges into the last 16 of the singles.
Murray’s partnership with Herbert did not ignite here in the desired manner of his comeback collaboration with Feliciano Lopez just two weeks ago at Queen’s; and at times of course the newness of this Scottish-American team quite naturally showed. But their strengths on serve, return and touch at the net were so organic that their combination could hardly help but succeed against two players who were both making their Centre Court debut.
There was an amusing initial fluff when Serena played the opening two points of the match still wearing her official Championship accreditation; and another midway through the first set when Serena first slipped in front of the net, and then opted to stay down in order to dodge any blasts from Murray’s racket. But the important part for both halves of the mega-partnership concerned the injury factors which brought them together in the first place. Less than six months after radical surgery on his chronically painful right hip, Murray skipped about without a hint of trouble; and the nagging knee problem that has limited Serena’s match play since March is clearly not the problem it was.
That last point is particularly interesting, raising the question of how Williams might view the comparative confection of this mixed doubles if she goes deep in the singles, making that elusive 24th Grand Slam title a real possibility. But no need to make those decisions for now.
Next up the dream team will face the No.14 seeds Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo. Looking ahead, the No.1 seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar could be in line after that; and for those who really like to get over-excited way before they should, it is theoretically possible that Murray and Williams could meet Murray and Mattek-Sands (that’s Jamie and Bethanie, the reigning US Open champions) in the final here.
Stock up on popcorn, everyone. It’s going to be a boffo week.
