Andy Murray has given his verdict on the state of British girls’s tennis after advancing to the semi-final of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy. Emma Raducanu might be dethroned because the British No 1 subsequent week whereas Britain nonetheless has no girls on the earth’s prime 100. And Murray despatched the present crop of younger stars a message following their very own success in Surbiton.
Murray booked his spot within the final 4 on the Surbiton Challenger with a three-set comeback win over fifth seed Jason Kubler on Friday. The world No 43 is the one British man left on the event after the likes of Dan Evans and Ryan Peniston crashed out earlier than the quarter-final.
However Britain has been properly represented within the ITF girls’s occasion working concurrently, with Katie Boulter, Katie Swan and Lily Miyazaki all via to the semi-final. It means Raducanu will now not be the British No 1 because the 20-year-old continues to get well from surgical procedure.
There was some criticism of British tennis in current weeks, because the nation was left with zero girls within the prime 100 after Raducanu dropped out. However Murray is backing the ladies in Surbiton to combat their approach into the elite group within the rankings after a formidable exhibiting to this point.
“They’ve had an excellent week and hopefully they’ll proceed and push their rating up as a result of all of them are able to being prime 100 gamers. They simply should be out on the tour persistently,” he mentioned after his 3-6 6-3 6-4 win.
A 3-time Grand Slam champion, Murray additionally slammed the concept that British tennis wasn’t profitable. He continued: “I don’t actually know what is taken into account success for a Grand Slam nation. Is prime 100 gamers what issues? Is it Grand Slam champions? I don’t know what it’s that folks need.”
The previous world No 1 thought the objective posts had modified after Raducanu’s historic victory on the 2021 US Open. “After all I want to see extra British gamers competing on the prime of the sport as a result of I care about it and I need them to do properly,” he added.
And Boulter additionally thought that the British girls have been proving themselves in Surbiton as she mentioned: “It [shows] that the expertise is there. Emma’s story is an absolute fairy story. All of us consider it and hope that’s going to be us.
“However the actuality is that week in week out, it’s not a dash it’s a marathon. It’s a must to preserve reminding your self of that, preserve your head down and preserve working.”