Wimbledon 2019: Andy Murray's security a concern, can play only on show courts, says All England Club chief executive

London: Andy Murray’s Wimbledon comeback in the doubles will likely be scheduled on a major show court for safety reasons, All England Club chief executive Richard Lewis said on Monday.

The two-time Wimbledon champion and British home favourite, coming back from major hip resurfacing surgery, is easing his way back towards a possible singles return by playing doubles.

Wimbledon normally schedules three singles matches per day on the main show courts, and Murray, who has teamed up with Pierre-Hugues Herbert for the men’s doubles event, will have to slot in afterwards whenever the singles are finished.

“It depends what other matches are on and how certain you are that they will finish on time,” said Lewis. Murray will almost certainly be put on either Centre Court or Court One to start with — owing to the security risk of marching him through thousands of fans to one of the lesser courts.

“One of the major considerations for Andy, I think the first match, in particular, is safety. That restricts the number of courts he can be on,” added Lewis. “Obviously Centre and One are easy. I think once you get beyond the Centre and One, it’s more problematic.”

“After the first match, if the interest dies down a bit, we might have more flexibility where he plays.”

Wimbledon is the only one of the four Grand Slams where the men’s doubles are decided over five sets but the tournament has no plans to fall into line with the rest. “It’s one of the things that makes the men’s doubles at Wimbledon very special. It makes it the main doubles event in the world for that very reason,” said Lewis.

“There’s no evidence from the other Grand Slams that singles players would play more if it was best of three,” he added.