Wimbledon 2019: Safety concerns over Andy Murray's opening doubles match

Organisers are concerned about the difficulty of getting such a high-profile player through the crowds to a more distant court, such as Court Two, safely

Safety concerns mean Andy Murray’s opening doubles match at Wimbledon is likely to be scheduled on either Centre Court or Court One.

Organisers are concerned about the difficulty of getting such a high-profile player through the crowds to a more distant court, such as Court Two, safely.

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

Lewis added: “After the first match, if the interest dies down a little bit, you might be able to have more flexibility where he plays. It would be probable I think, depending upon what other matches are around, that he’ll be on one of the major show courts.”

Lewis, meanwhile, played down the controversy over Roger Federer being seeded ahead of Rafael Nadal because of the formula used to reward grass-court success.

“It’s a formula, it’s not discretionary,” he said. “It’s been in place for a long time. From our point of view, it wasn’t controversial because we had no choice. I think there’s a good logic to the formula, it reflects grass-court play, and that’s where it is for this year.”