Police join search for Jensen

Police last night joined the hunt for Murphy Jensen, the American player who yesterday failed to turn up for his mixed doubles match at Wimbledon.

Jensen, 26, was due to partner another American, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, for their second-round match against the Americans, Kelly Jones and Katrina Adams. He practised with Schultz-McCarthy at around one o'clock, which was when he was last seen, but failed to turn up for the match on Court Three two hours later.

He was still missing when play ended at around 8pm, and his family called the police. His mother, Patricia, said: "We are very worried, he never showed up on court and we got in touch with the police. We pray to God that he has not been kidnapped."

"So far all our efforts to locate the player have yielded a negative response," a police spokesman said. It is understood that local hospitals have no record of treating him.

A spokesman for the referee's office said: "We have tried to find him and contacted the house he was staying at in Wimbledon. We know where he was living but he has not been there and we are very concerned."

Murphy Jensen's brother, Luke Jensen, with whom he won the men's doubles title at the French Open in 1993, said: "It's actually kind of frightening. All of his rackets are there, his plane tickets."

"I've got no idea where he is," Schultz-McCarthy said. "The last time I saw him was about one o'clock this afternoon when we were practising at Aorangi Park and he was really fired up for the match."

In his absence, the All England Club fined Jensen $1,000 (pounds 630) for failing to turn up for his match, which, under the rules, Jones and Adams won by default.