Andy Murray has sent a cheeky dig the way of Carlos Alcaraz just hours before the Spanish ace begins his bid to make it three Wimbledon titles in a row. Alcaraz won his second consecutive SW19 crown last year and enters the 2025 edition in good form, having triumphed at Queen's last week.
Only four men in the open era have three-peated at Wimbledon in the past, with Alcaraz, at just 22 years old, chasing yet another piece of history. He opens the Championships up on Monday afternoon with a match against Fabio Fognini, but the recent French Open winner opted to join Murray for a round of golf in preparation for the tournament.
Alcaraz shared a video to his seven million Instagram followers of Murray draining a putt, captioned: "He made the eagle putt, but didn't beat me [tongue out emoji]." To which Murray responded in typically witty fashion, saying: "I'd like to congratulate your partner Juan Carlos on an excellent performance as without him you would have been in a lot of trouble."
The pair have been spending plenty of time together on the course lately, with Alcaraz and Murray having featured in a pre-tournament golf feature on the Wimbledon YouTube channel. However, there was a different result when the cameras were rolling, with Murray taking the victory that time around.
Alcaraz will be hoping for a different result on the tennis court at Wimbledon, and ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year, he said: "Most of all, I'm in no doubt that I have nothing to prove. It's my life and I live it the way I think is correct. The key is not to think about what people say, or their expectations, but to focus on what I really need and what makes me feel good."
On the importance of surrounding himself with family and friends, he added: "They play an essential role. Being with them helps me forget about everything going on externally. That feeling is very necessary. It helps me so much when it comes to returning to tournaments with the desire to train and play my best every day.
"All of us being together in a house creates more of a family atmosphere.Throughout the year we go from hotel to hotel, and although that's fine, it's not the same. Here we make more plans, we play board games... That really helps me relax and enjoy myself more, both on and off the court."
