London, July 30 (IANS) Former world no.1 Andy Murray has said that tennis is missing a trick by not getting more mixed gender events. Murray is currently taking part in the Battle of the Brits exhibition featuring male and female players.
Murray said that tennis is a sport where both the male and female players have similar stature and the sport should exploit that further.
“The Hopman Cup, for example, was a brilliant event in my opinion,” Murray told British media.
“Putting match-ups in tennis like Serena Williams and Roger Federer on the same court, it is so brilliant for our sport.
“We are able to do that in tennis and I think we should embrace it a little bit more, not necessarily every single week, but at times it would be great. I would like to see Rafa (Nadal) on the court with some of the top female players.”
The Briton also said that he is expecting to see a few upsets to happen whenever tennis returns due to the lack of match time that most players have got amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You just can’t replicate matches in practice, it just isn’t the same,” said Murray. “It is different on the body, on the mind. The pressure is just different and no matter how hard you try to make your practices as challenging and difficult as matches, they just aren’t.
“Some players who have had injury lay-offs will probably be a little bit more experienced in terms of coming back after a long period, but it’s an opportunity for players. There will be upsets for sure. Going into the US Open with potentially only one or two matches in the Cincinnati event in New York, it will make for some interesting results.”
–IANS
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