Andy Murray: Watching Roger Federer and Serena Williams on the same court was..

Staged at the LTA's National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, St. James's Place Battle of the Brits Team Tennis takes place between July 27 and August 2. Gathering the leading British players from both the ATP and WTA circuit, the event serves as another excellent opportunity for everyone to build form ahead of the season restart. The three-time Major champion Andy Murray is having fun with his colleagues, playing with Jodie Burrage in the mixed doubles on Tuesday. Sharing his thoughts with journalists, Andy would love to see more mixed doubles matches at the official tournaments. The Briton mentioned that famous Hopman Cup clash between the USA and  Switzerland from January last year, with Serena Williams playing against Roger Federer. It was the deciding clash of the tie (both Serena and Roger won their singles matches), with Federer and Bencic defeating Williams and Tiafoe 4-2 4-3 in 46 minutes to deliver the second point for their country.

The Swiss pair served on a high level in the opening set, breaking Tiafoe in the fifth game after a return winner from Bencic and taking the set when Roger held at love a few minutes later. Roger and Belinda saved a break point in the fourth game of the second set and won the tie break 5-3 after a great volley from Federer, celebrating another excellent performance and preparing for the clash against Germany in the last round-robin encounter. Murray would be thrilled to see a similar competition again, with the Hopman Cup losing its place in the calendar due to the ATP Cup that started this year. The two-time Wimbledon champion wants to see Rafael Nadal and other players from the top paired with the leading figures from the WTA Tour, feeling the crowd would enjoy that big time.

"I think tennis misses a bit of a trick with the mixed doubles stuff," Murray said.

"The Hopman Cup, for example, was a brilliant event, in my opinion; the players enjoyed it. It sometimes had a little bit of an exhibition feel in some of the matches, but that would be my only criticism. I played there a bunch of times, and I loved it. It was a great event. Putting match-ups like Serena Williams against Roger Federer, it is so brilliant for our sport. We can do that, and I think we should embrace it a little more, not necessarily every week, but at times. I would like to see Rafael Nadal on the court with some of the top female players. When I watched Roger and Serena playing, I liked it a lot. They were into it, and I'm sure they enjoyed it as well."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2DnpOUk