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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Majendie

Wimbledon 2024: Battle of the Brits looms large on day four

Wimbledon was today poised for day four of the championships to be dominated by a battle of the Brits.

For the first time ever, the British No1 and No2 in both the men's and women's draws were facing off against each other in back-to-back matches.

However, the encounters between Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie, and Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart are not even the headline acts.

Instead, Andy Murray is the star attraction in the men's doubles alongside brother Jamie in what could be the penultimate match of his Wimbledon career if the result against John Peers and Rinky Hijikata does not go to plan.

In addition, Jacob Fearnley will be hoping to pull off a seismic shock against former world No1 Novak Djokovic.

Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper playing in Davis Cup (Getty Images for LTA)

Lily Miyazaki will also be aiming to join Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal and the winner of Boulter-Dart as a fourth Brit into the third round, but faces the arduous task of facing No14 seed Daria Kasatkina.

The early demise of British players used to be commonplace here, but there is a genuine feel-good factor at the home of tennis for the first sun-kissed day of these championships.

Draper looks the clear favourite to beat Norrie; seeded, a recent tournament winner and a player on the rise, while the latter has struggled for any consistent string of results, despite strong showings in recent matches. Draper, who recently replaced Norrie to become British No1 for the first time, said: "He is one of these guys with incredible discipline and always treated me extremely well as a young player. Cam is someone who has really shown me the way."

As for the day's all British line-up, he said: "It was obviously tough for Andy to pull out [of the singles]. It will be great that he's playing doubles with Jamie. Obviously, me and Cam's match, that will be a good match to watch. Jacob playing Djokovic, it will be interesting to see how he gets on against him. Obviously, Katie playing incredible tennis. I think it will be a great day."

Of the rise of the Brits, Norrie said: "It's probably the most Brits we've seen playing in the main draw. It's a good start for us."

(Getty Images for LTA)

Boulter is 6-1 up in her encounters with Dart, most recently beating her on her way to the Nottingham Open title.

Looking ahead to their latest match, she said: "We both know each other's games inside out, back to front at this point, we've played so many matches. I think it's going to be extremely tough. I'm going to have to bring my A game."

Fearnley faces the hardest task of anyone in seven-time champion Djokovic, his sole advantage perhaps being his unknown quantity as a relative novice on tour.

Djokovic said: "A British player playing in Britain is always a tough ask. I watched him play and he's got a complete game. He's got a big serve, an aggressive style and loves to come to the net as well."

The icing on the cake is undeniably the Murray brothers, one-time Davis Cup double partners, but playing at Wimbledon together for the first time.

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