Wimbledon 2021: A Royal fan for Jamie Murray, as Duchess of Cambridge watches on way out on court 14

Jamie Murray was under strict orders for a winning start in the men’s doubles. “Make sure you play well,” was the instruction, and it came by Royal command.

The Duchess of Cambridge was among the crowd on court 14 for Murray and partner Bruno Soares’ match, to the surprise and delight of Andy’s big brother.

Murray was told by text to expect a special visitor.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares got off to a winning start in Wimbledon's men's doubles

"I was kind of wondering who it was and thought it had to be someone pretty big,” he said, following the 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 defeat of Nicholas Munroe (US) and Vasek Pospisil (Canada).

“When I got on court I clocked straight away.

“That was really cool. It was great she was able to come out and support us, especially since it was court 14. But Bruno didn’t notice the whole match. He only found out afterwards from some friends in Brazil.”

Murray and Soares romped into an early lead, winning the first five games, and the Scot was literally seeing the world through rose-tinted specs, his protection against the midday sunshine.

The Duchess of Cambridge was among the crowd on Court 14 for Jamie's match

Murray has a busy, brisk, almost agitated style, like he’s a train to catch or a good book to finish.

As with most doubles acts, it’s all first-bumps and whispers with these two, but Murray’s habit of lifting a surreptitious arm to speak into his wristband means he resembles a special agent from a Cold War spy caper.

They were slowed down in the second set as both were challenged on serve.

If Soares could have held his at 5-4, that would have been the match, but their opponents found some rhythm to force a tiebreak. Monroe and Pospisil then had four chances to level the match, succeeding with the last.

Normal service was resumed in the final set as Murray and Soares replicated the scoreline of the first, the clinching point coming from a booming Murray serve.

While his five Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles have come with three different women, it’s with Soares that he’s had success in the men’s, the partnership taking the Australian and US Open prizes in 2016.

Next up for them will be Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) and Robin Hasse (Netherlands).

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