Murray Dream Comes True As He Plays Kudla In Reality In San Diego

One of the funniest moments in Grand Slam history happened moments after Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2013.

After the win vs. Novak Djokovic, Murray was asked by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi if he had had a dream the night before the final, and Murray revealed that he had indeed had a dream – and he “was playing Denis Kudla.”

A few years later I asked Kudla about his bizarre small role in Murray’s Wimbledon triumph. I approached Kudla at the Sarasota Open for my “Facing Andy Murray” book and he recounted the memories of facing Andy in reality and dream.

Kudla of course like everyone was watching the 2013 Wimbledon final. “Actually I was in the bathroom… I remember I walked back and everyone was like, Holycrap, he just said your name. He said he had a dream playing you. I was like, Yeah right. Then I watched the replay and it was pretty ridiculous when he said that. Pretty random. But yeah, I guess some people say crazy things sometimes.”

Kudla told me he practiced several times with Murray in Miami, when Kudla was living in Boca Raton.

Kudla has a theory of why he was part of Andy’s night-before-Wimbledon-final dream. “It was probably from the practice from the week before. I had a pretty good practice, so maybe that was a memory that stuck in his head. Who knows [smiles]?”

Last night the two finally met in a real match in San Diego. Murray was supposed to play Kei Nishikori in the first round but the Japanese player injured his back and so Kudla got the call as a Lucky Loser. Kudla had trained yesterday in San Diego at the venue and was about to depart for Indian Wells by car when he was asked by the ATP official to play Murray as the LL. Kudla agreed and lost to Murray 62 63.

Murray will now play Casper Ruud in the second round.

Andy Murray · Denis Kudla · San Diego

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