Practice is not perfect as Murray holds back

By MIKE DICKSON

Last updated at 17:21 21 June 2007

The good news on what might be

termed Andy Murray's wristwatch

yesterday was that he felt strong

enough to make his first semi-public appearance

on court.

The bad was that he was not

cracking forehands against

some Russian brute but having

a 20-minute knock-up against

a 10-year-old competition

winner and a TV presenter.

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On the day that Murray was

nominally placed as eighth

seed for Wimbledon, there was

at least a chance to see him

hitting a tennis ball, albeit on

a practice court at the Boodles

Challenge at Stoke Park in

Buckinghamshire.

Among other duties, Murray

was unveiling his Madame

Tussauds waxwork — and the

effigy gave about as much

insight into his prospects of

being fit as the man himself.

"It is getting better but it is

still not 100 per cent, so we will

have to see," said Murray of his

injured wrist.

There was not much to be

deduced from his gentle

strokes against schoolboy

Steven Bolton and top 100

player turned commentator

and early morning couch jockey

with GMTV, Andrew Castle.

Before a small crowd of

onlookers, the 20-year-old Scot

hit his forehand smoothly

enough but at very little pace.

He had declined the chance

of a friendly set with Castle in

the tournament's main arena before a formal crowd, and he

faces the prospect of going into

Wimbledon without having

completed a match since

May 7.

Murray's manager Patricio

Apey admitted: "He is trying to

get better and he hits everything

well at this point except

the forehand which is his most

difficult stroke."

Even if Murray is given a

Tuesday start at Wimbledon it

is hard to see him being 100 per

cent by next week, which has

been his stated criteria for

playing at the All England Club.

The most likely scenario for

Murray is to await tomorrow's

draw, see the calibre of opponent

lined up against him early

on and decide whether he

might be able to progress without

doing any further damage.

Murray was left alone in the

minor reshuffle of the seedings

yesterday, with the men's positions

based on a mathematical

formula that takes grass court

results into account.

The contentious decision was

on the women's side, where the

tournament committee can set

their own seedings.

Venus Williams was the only

change, but despite winning

the title three times she was

promoted only seven places to

24th seed from her ranking of 31.

Tim Henman's preparations

ended at the Nottingham Open

when he lost 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 to second

seed Dmitri Tursunov in

an up-and-down encounter.

Having fought back from 4-1

down in the first set, Henman

fashioned three set points in

the tie-break but failed to take

any and lost it 9-7 before going

on to level the match. The

greater power of Tursunov then told in the decider.

"I'd like to have gone further

but I have had some good time

on court," said Henman. "I have

broken a bad run by getting a

win under my belt in the first

round and now I have to take it

a step further at Wimbledon."

Jamie Murray and American

partner Eric Butorac reached

the doubles semi-finals with a

6-3, 3-6, 10-2 win over South

Americans Agustin Calleri and

Nicolas Lapentti.

WIMBLEDON SEEDS

MEN

1 R Federer (Swi), 2 R Nadal (Sp), 3 A

Roddick (US), 4 N Djokovic (Ser), 5 F

Gonzalez (Chi), 6 N Davydenko (Rus), 7 T

Berdych (Cz), 8 A Murray (GB), 9 J Blake

(US), 10 M Baghdatis (Cyp), 11 T Robredo

(Sp), 12 R Gasquet (F), 13 T Haas (G), 14 M

Youzhny (Rus), 15 I Ljubicic (Cro), 16 L

Hewitt (A), 17 D Ferrer (Sp), 18 M Ancic

(Cro), 19 J Nieminen (Fin), 20 J Bjorkman

(Swe), 21 J C Ferrero (Sp), 22 D Tursunov

(Rus), 23 G Canas (Arg), 24 D Nalbandian

(Arg), 25 J I Chela (Arg), 26 C Moya (Sp),

27 M Safin (Rus), 28 P Kohlschreiber (G),

29 R Soderling (Swe), 30 A Calleri (Arg),

31 F Volandri (It), 32 J Monaco (Arg).

WOMEN

1 J Henin (Bel), 2 M Sharapova (Rus),

3 J Jankovic (Ser), 4 A Mauresmo (F),

5 S Kuznetsova (Rus), 6 A Ivanovic (Ser),

7 S Williams (US), 8 A Chakvetadze (Rus),

9 M Hingis (Swi), 10 D Hantuchova (Svk),

11 N Petrova (Rus), 12 E Dementieva

(Rus), 13 D Safina (Rus), 14 N Vaidisova

(Cz), 15 P Schnyder (Swi), 16 S Peer (Isr),

17 T Golovin (F), 18 L Na (Chi), 19 M Bartoli

(F), 20 K Srebotnik (Slo), 21 S Bammer

(Au), 22 T Garbin (It), 23 A Medina

Garrigues (Sp), 24 V Williams (US), 25 A

Bondarenko (Ukr), 26 L Safarova (Cz),

27 A Sugiyama (Jpn), 28 S Stosur (A), 29

M Santangelo (It), 30 F Schiavone (It), 31

O Poutchkova (Rus), 32 M Krajicek (Hol).