Wimbledon 2023: Jamie Murray column on British interest in SW19 and achieving his biggest career goal

Seven-time major doubles champion Jamie Murray is back as a BBC Sport columnist over the Wimbledon fortnight.

Before his opening match, the 37-year-old Scot discusses how British players must grasp the opportunity given to them by wildcards at the All England Club.

Wimbledon is always the fortnight of the season where British tennis has the biggest opportunity to showcase the talent we have.

The singles receives most of the attention, obviously, but the Championships also provide a huge platform for the players in the doubles, juniors and wheelchair players to make a name for themselves with the wider public.

If I'm a general tennis fan from the UK, I want to turn on my TV - or go to Wimbledon - to watch the stars, of course. But I also want to see local players I can get behind.

For the British public and for Wimbledon, it would be nice to see lots of different players winning matches and going far to keep interest in the tournament high across the nation.

Hopefully that will happen. There is a different feel about the tournament when you have that home interest.

Six British players won in the first round of the singles - my brother Andy, Cam Norrie, Liam Broady, Jodie Burrage, Jan Choinski and Katie Boulter - and hopefully there will be many more wins to come across all the events.

This year there has again been a lot of debate about the state of British game, with only a handful of singles players ranked in the world's top 100 and a bunch of wildcards being handed out for Wimbledon.

By giving out the wildcards for Wimbledon, you would hope it would inspire players to work their butts off and earn their right to play regularly at this level of events.

To get the opportunity to play at Wimbledon should be inspiring to anyone who competes here.

With the money they get for playing in the first round, the players should be taking that money and furthering their career by investing in themselves.

Tennis is an expensive sport.

The money the British players earn at Wimbledon should help them fund the next year of their career and the way the LTA is supporting them with wildcards is another form of funding their careers.

Next year it would be nice if more players are competing in the main draw without a 'WC' next to their name.

There are many ways to look at what constitutes the health of the British game.

Is it the number of Grand Slam champions?

Is it the amount of players in the top 100, 200, or 250 of the rankings?

Or is it about growing participation across the country?

Obviously it would be amazing to have all three of those things.

For a long time, and particularly when Andy was at the very top of the game, France looked at Britain and were jealous in a way.

Britain had this superstar who was competing for Grand Slam singles titles and winning them, while their wait for a major champion - which is particularly long on the men's side - continues.

But then we would look at France and be jealous of them because of how many players they had in the top 100s and however many more in the top 200s or 250s. We'd think 'that's amazing they've got so many players ranked so high'.

Clearly it is very difficult to create Grand Slam champions.

But I don't see how it shouldn't be a possibility that Britain has a lot more players at a higher level - i.e. direct acceptances into the main draws at the Grand Slams - given all the funding the governing body gets from Wimbledon.

I don't think that should be too unattainable.

The lack of depth at the top is not an issue we've just had this year, or two years ago, or five years go. It's been going on for 15 or 20 years.

That's what frustrates a lot of people who are in the performance end of the game in this country.

'Maybe I've got three or four shots left to win Wimbledon'

Winning the Wimbledon men's doubles title remains the biggest goal over the rest of my career.

Each year that passes it is one less opportunity. I'm 37 now so maybe I've got three or four more shots - who knows.

You want to make the most of the opportunity and do as well as you possibly can. The goal for me and my playing partner Michael Venus is to win the trophy. That's what we will be shooting for.

The men's doubles is my bread and butter, my day-to-day career.

It was special to twice win the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon but the men's doubles is my career and that's why it would be a much bigger deal for me to win that trophy.

Michael and I can be considered as contenders, I think.

We're seeded 13th and we've won a tonne of matches this year, we've won three titles at ATP 250 events.

We haven't necessarily had a big result in a Masters, but we have reached the quarter-finals in three of the five Masters so far.

We've let a few opportunities to go deep in these tournaments slip by but I feel we're due a big result.

We know we can compete at the highest level and know were a good team - now we've got to go out and show it from first point until last.

Let's hope that it is here at Wimbledon.

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Wimbledon.

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