Weather will not get in the way of Andy Murray and John Millman at Wimbledon
​Andy Murray will have the benefit of the Centre Court roof once again when he takes on John Millman in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
Andy Murray will have the benefit of the Centre Court roof once again when he takes on John Millman in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
The world number two usually plays one match on Court One during each tournament but organisers have ensured the home favourite does not need to worry about the soggy British summer.
Further rain on Friday meant some second-round matches were still to be completed and there will be play on middle Sunday for the first time since 2004 as a result.
Murray has breezed into round three with straight-sets victories over Liam Broady and Lu Yen-hsun and will hope for more of the same against Australian journeyman Millman.
The 27-year-old will not be the most unlikely man to step onto Centre Court this week but not many of Murray's opponents can boast a spell working in the City on their CV.
That came three years ago, when he suffered a serious shoulder injury that he feared might prematurely end his career.
I worked in the City for a little bit at one of my mate's companies,'' Millman said ahead of the match.I was dressed up in a suit each day going in.
I always wanted to get back into tennis. And I think I really have an appreciation of these moments right now, because there was a big time there where I wasn't too confident.
You dream of playing on the biggest courts against the biggest players. I feel as if I deserve to be there. I have played two good matches to get through.
I have never been one to necessarily go out with an intimidated mindset before I play. I think that that's kind of being disrespectful to the game. So we are going to start at 0-0. I'm going to give it everything.''
Millman is now ranked 67 and, although he has only played Murray once before, he can boast 10 victories from 12 previous meetings with British players.
His one match against Murray came in his home-town tournament in Brisbane prior to his injury in 2013, and he took a set off the world number two, who remembers being very impressed.
I didn't know him before we played in Brisbane,'' said the Scot.I knew it was his home town. He played extremely well that day. He was ranked, I want to say, about 200 at the time.
I came off the court and I said to Dani Vallverdu, who I was working with, 'He's top 50 for sure if he keeps going'. I don't know what his ranking is now, but he's pretty close, I think, to that.
He moves well. He has a great attitude. He's played a few good matches there in Brisbane. But obviously it's a different surface, different place. The match-up will be a bit different on a grass court.''
Murray's arch rival Novak Djokovic faces a Saturday noon battle to stay in the tournament after falling two sets behind against American Sam Querrey.
Djokovic, who holds all four grand slam titles, trailed 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 overnight, with rain stopping play on Friday evening.
Seven-time champion Roger Federer believes Djokovic could turn the Court One match around, saying: There's still a long way away for Sam to get it done, especially with Novak's track record right now in the slams. Both know that.
It will be an interesting match from now on clearly to see how Novak is going to come back from this.''