Champagne on ice’ for Wimbledon, says Murray

TIL Desk Sports/ Andy Murray warned Novak Djokovic he has the champagne on ice as the Queen’s Club history-maker plots to end the world number one’s reign as Wimbledon champion. Murray completed the perfect warm-up for Wimbledon when the world number two defeated Milos Raonic 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to retain the Queen’s title and lift the trophy for a record fifth time. With Wimbledon getting underway on June 29, Murray looks well placed to emulate his historic 2013 triumph at the All England Club.

But the 29-year-old knows he is likely to have to defeat Djokovic, who has won Wimbledon for the last two years, to earn the third Grand Slam of his career. Despite losing to Djokovic in 13 of their past 15 meetings, including this year’s Australian and French Open finals, Murray believes the return to his camp of coach Ivan Lendl this week can make the difference in the grass-court Grand Slam. And, asked what he would do with the large bottle of champagne given to him by Queen’s officials, Murray issued a statement of intent to Djokovic.

“I’ll take it home, I guess, and hopefully maybe have something to celebrate in a few weeks. Yeah, keep it for after Wimbledon,” he said. While Djokovic has been resting following the long-awaited completion of his career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, Murray has been honing his grass-court game and getting reacquainted with Lendl, who proved an invaluable presence when the Scot defeated Djokovic in the Wimbledon and US Open finals.