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Football fever hits English and Croatian doubles pairing going for glory at Wimbledon

Sam Dean

For all Wimbledon’s best efforts in keeping their beloved tennis tournament untouched by events in Russia, it seems the World Cup’s tentacles have finally stretched inside the All England Club. More accurately, the uncontainable football fever has been smuggled into SW19 by a doubles pairing, Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor.

Inglot, you see, is a die-hard England supporter who was told by Andy Murray to “calm down” after he fanatically backed Gareth Southgate’s side earlier in the tournament. And Skugor, his partner on court, is a football-loving Croatian.

The coincidence of nationalities makes for one of the great quirks of a tennis tournament that has has been, by almost all measures, totally overshadowed by the antics of Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford and the rest of the ‘It’s Coming Home’ troop in Russia.

“It has been constant banter [with Skugor],” Inglot said. “We have been talking about how we are going to have to keep it civil until Wednesday. He was saying ‘yeah, we’ll have a tough match’ and I told him ‘yeah, I agree - England will have a tough match in the final’. It will be great fun if we get to watch it together.”

Inglot, whose father was a professional footballer in Poland, has not held back in his support of the Three Lions this summer. Ahead of the group game against Belgium, he told his friends that he was planning on wearing face-paint to watch the match. As he discovered later that evening, they had thought he was joking. “They were in evening wear,” he laughed. “It looked a bit dodgy, but I showed passion.”

Inglot makes a return during his doubles match alongside Skugor - Credit: PA
Inglot makes a return during his doubles match alongside Skugor Credit: PA

Inglot, 32, was similarly enthusiastic about the Panama match last month, when he was playing at Eastbourne. “Andy told me, ‘you need to relax, mate, and calm down, it’s Panama'. I said ‘no! Passion!’ And I asked him: ‘where’s the Scottish team?’”

The plan is for Inglot and Skugor to watch Wednesday’s match together, although a strong contingent of Croatians at this year’s tournament may lead to the Londoner being outnumbered on the night. “Maybe I should bring my coach, bring the face paint and see what happens,” Inglot laughed.

“I love football and I love the fact that England are doing so well. It’s a great summer and I think it will be one of those summers we remember, with the weather and the team doing so well. I have that feeling.”

The more serious side to the Inglot-Skugor relationship is that they face Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Chile’s Nicolas Jarry on Court 12 tomorrow. “Hopefully some Brits will be supporting Croatia,” Inglot said. “Just for now."

Englishman Dominic Inglot (r) and Croatian Franko Skugor shake hands - Credit: PA
Englishman Dominic Inglot (r) and Croatian Franko Skugor face an interesting few days ahead Credit: PA

Inglot and Skugor have been in impressive form this year. They won the first event they played together, in Budapest in April, and then lifted the men’s doubles title at ‘s-Hertogenbosch last month. Gonzalez and Jarry will make for tricky opponents, but Inglot hopes they will be able to replicate Europe’s dominance over South America at the World Cup.

“I would love that to continue,” he said. “I’m not sure it is guaranteed. Those guys are very good and they beat [Henri] Kontinen and [John] Peers [the third seeds] in the first round and that’s not an easy win. They did well at the French Open, too, so it will be a tricky match.”

On a busy day for British doubles, there will also be home support for Jay Clarke and Harriet Dart in the mixed doubles as they meet 13th seeds Max Mirnyi and Kveta Peschke.

Jamie Murray will also be in action twice as he features in the men’s doubles and the mixed doubles. The two-time men's doubles grand slam champion first meets another British duo, Ken and Neal Skupski, alongside his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares. He then takes to the court again, alongside Victoria Azarenka, as they face Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Jamie Murray won the mixed doubles title alongside Martina Hingis last year, and Azarenka said she is looking forward to being a crowd favourite for the first time in England. “I think he [Murray] has pressure he has to defend,” she said last week. “I have got nothing to defend. So I am just going to enjoy it.”