They must have been spitting feathers when the Telegraph first edition arrived in Kensington on Wednesday night. How did the Mail miss such a trick? There on the front page was a picture of Kim Sears with her head down, leaving Wimbledon alone. The heading was a simple "Troubled team Murray" and the two-line caption said: "Murray had seemed upset and distracted during the match". Inside, as SubScribe wrote in the press review, there was the insinuation that one of the three women in the families' box - trainer Amelie Mauresmo, Mum Judy or girlfriend Sears - might have said or done something untoward "five minutes before the ******* match". Here was the Telegraph parking its tennis shoes on the Mail's court; a challenge had been thrown down that couldn't go unanswered. |
Kim had she dumped him, announced she was pregnant or let slip the end of a television series?
Amelie seen sprinting up to the players' box - a last-minute change of tactics?
Judy arrived late, having been watching her other son Jamie on an outside court - sibling rivalry?
So much for the women. Harris moves on to other possibilities: could his dog be ill? Was Murray eating too many bananas? Or maybe he just had an off day.
So in spite of the caps in the puff and the underscore in the heading, we still don't know what WAS behind the Murray meltdown.
But, thanks to the Times website yesterday afternoon, we do know what was behind the "five ******* minutes before the match". It was the amount of notice the players were given before they were called on court.