Junior Champions Murray & Monfils to Make British Debuts with Stella Artois Wild Cards

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The winners of last year’s four Grand Slam junior titles will compete on British soil at an ATP event for the first time after the Stella Artois Championships awarded wild cards to Scotland’s Andrew Murray and Gael Monfils of France.

Murray, 18, won the 2004 US Open junior title, while fellow 18-year-old Monfils lifted the Wimbledon, Australian and French Open crowns.

They will join many of the world’s best tennis players in the Stella Artois main draw when the action gets under way at the Queen’s Club in London on Monday, including defending champion Andy Roddick, three-time winner Lleyton Hewitt, and British No.1 Tim Henman.

It is a step-up that meets the approval of former top-ten player Emilio Sanchez, who runs the Sanchez-Casal academy in Barcelona that Murray trains in.

“It’s going to be a nice tournament for him,” said Sanchez.

“What he needs is to get used to this level of tennis. Andrew is a great talent and he has a promising future in front of him, but there is still a long way for him to go and it’s not the same to win in the juniors as on the main tour. He still needs to build some strength and to put some more order in his game to make the next step, but he has a very smooth, easy game, very good ground strokes, and he can mix it up with nice angles. He needs to come forward and volley more, but with his height it is something that he can learn. This wild card will help him.”

For Monfils, the Stella Artois Championships mark the first time he has played in a tour-level event on grass, but the way that he has adapted to life on the main tour so far this year suggests that he can make the transition comfortably.

In 2005, he has already scored wins over last year’s French Open champion Gaston Gaudio and this year’s semi-finalist Nikolai Davydenko.

Britain’s Greg Rusedski, Mark Philippoussis and Richard Gasquet will also compete for this year’s title, as will last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Mario Ancic and Sebastien Grosjean – a two-time Stella Artois finalist.

Final’s day at the 2005 Stella Artois Championships will also feature a special challenge match between John McEnroe and Boris Becker to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Becker’s big breakthrough. It will be the first time that they have ever played each other on a grass court.

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