ANDY MURRAY DRAWN AGAINST TOMAS MACHAC IN WIMBLEDON MEN'S SINGLES FIRST ROUND AS HE TARGETS SW19 SWANSONG... WHILE CHAOS DESCENDS DURING THE LADIES' SINGLES DRAW
- Andy Murray will face Tomas Machac in the Wimbledon men's singles first round
- The Wimbledon women's draw was marred by a technical difficulty
- Murray had back surgery on Saturday and has had rehab '24/7' to be fit
There was an embarrassing and protracted technical blunder during the Wimbledon women's singles draw this morning.
Beatriz Haddad Maia’s name was called but Mirra Andreeva appeared in the digital board displaying the draw. It caused a knock-on effect and took several minutes to untangle.
That came before Andy Murray found out his fate, as he was drawn against Tomas Machac.
The two-time champion is eager for a special swansong in SW19 after pushing himself to the limit to play.
Only last week he pulled out of his second-round clash with Jordan Thompson at Queen's after nerve pain caused by a spinal cyst immobilised his right leg.
Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu has been handed a tough draw with 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, while Katie Boulter, seeded 32nd, will take on Tatjana Maria.
As for Jack Draper, he will play Elias Ymer, while Cameron Norrie will take on Facundo Diaz Acosta.
Murray had back surgery again on Saturday and was initially told he would be out for six to 12 weeks with no chance of competing on his beloved green turf.
He claimed to be doing rehab '24/7' in a bid to regain his fitness ahead of what looks like his final summer in elite tennis, with the Paris Olympics seen as a 'fitting' endgame.
Earlier this week Murray stated his ambition to be fit as he looks to end his career on a high.
'Obviously the last week's been pretty tough.
‘There's obviously a lot going on with me planning on finishing at the Olympics.
'When I had the injury at Queen's and then had the subsequent scans and doctor's appointments, it was a pretty difficult situation to be in. I was told I had to have the surgery immediately by multiple surgeons.
'I had a pretty decent sized cyst on my spinal cord which had been seen on a scan post French Open, but it grew significantly in size over the next two to three weeks.
'So I had to have the operation, but I was given multiple different timelines for how long that would take. And also was made aware that if I decided to try to play Wimbledon that there's some risk associated with that and it's whether or not I'm willing to take on that risk.
'But also even with there potentially being a risk, the operation has gone really, really well and I'm recovering really well.'
Over to Raducanu, and she will begin her Wimbledon campaign against Russian No22 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in a women’s singles draw that none of the British contingent should be too unhappy with.
The 29-year-old Alexandrova reached the fourth round last year, but there were certainly tougher draws for an unseeded player and Raducanu looks to be in an open section of the draw.
Katie Boulter, the No32 seed, starts against 2018 quarter-finalist Tatjana Maria, of Germany and faces the prospect of a third-round clash with No5 seed Jessica Pegula.
Wildcard Heather Watson plays Belgian world No85 Greet Minnen, Harriet Dart takes on qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan and Fran Jones, another wildcard, plays Croatian Petra Martic.
Qualifier Sonay Kartal plays No29 seed Sorana Cirstea, of Romania and wildcard Lily Miyazaki plays Tamara Korpatsch, the world No75, of Germany.
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