On the Fourth of July, Andy Murray played his final match at Wimbledon. The Scotsman was the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years. He won Wimbledon twice, and he picked up gold and silver medals on Centre Court at the London Olympics. Wimbledon gave Andy an incredibly emotional ceremony on Centre Court, with a lovely video package and some of the other legends of the sport coming out to pay their respect. Sue Barker even came out of retirement to interview Andy. You know who couldn’t be bothered though? Wimbledon’s royal patron, the Princess of Wales. I still remember when she skipped Wimbledon’s lovely centenary event in 2022 too. Well, two days after Andy’s retirement, Kate posted this on Twitter:
An incredible #Wimbledon career comes to an end. You should be so very proud @andy_murray. On behalf of all of us, thank you! C
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 6, 2024
To be fair, someone on KP’s social media staff also posted something on the 4th on their IG Stories. I’ll also be fair to Kate about this: Andy was supposed to play a mixed doubles match on Saturday with Emma Raducanu but Emma pulled out, and maybe Kate originally intended to come out for that. While I understand that Kate is still going through cancer treatments…what was her excuse for skipping the centenary event in 2022? It’s like the royal patron makes a point of skipping the biggest moments for Wimbledon and British tennis. Anyway, the Daily Beast had this comment from a friend-of-Kate:
Hopes are high that Kate might stage a dramatic return to the Royal Box, on Centre Court, a week on Sunday for the highlight of the week—the men’s final—and present the winning trophy.
A friend of Kate and William’s told The Daily Beast: “It is no secret that she would dearly love to be there, but when you are having chemo, as she herself said, there are good days and bad days. A lot depends on the timing of the treatments. She made [it] to Trooping the Color so if she can make Wimbledon, she will.”
No mention of the women’s final on Saturday, which I predicted – if Kate comes out, it will probably only be the men’s final. Also: there are no British players left in the singles draw, but there are several Russians and Russians-who-play-for-Kazakhstan. It’s possible that she’s waiting to see if any Russians make it to the finals before she makes her decision, because God knows, she’s too delicate-yet-important to present a trophy to a Russian.
Here’s Andy Murray’s Centre Court ceremony:
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.