THE remarkable prospect of Serena Williams and Andy Murray teaming up in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon this fortnight took a step forward last night when Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’ coach, said he thought it would be a “great move”.

While the younger Williams sister was open to an approach from the Scot on Saturday, the general assumption was that the 37-year-old – only recently returned from a knee injury – would still be focusing her energies on an attempt to claim a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title.

Mouratoglou’s comments, however, indicate that this is an idea which is gaining support.

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“Why not?” said Mouratoglou. “As a coach, I would say that’s a great move.

“First of all, she loves to play doubles. Second, to play doubles with Andy can bring only positives to her. Andy is great, she likes him. He’s an incredible player, he is super positive. Why not? They have to just both decide and then . . . let’s do it!

“It’s a possibility – it’s not about her, it’s about both of them.”

The only alarm bells Murray’s hip is setting off these days is when the metal sets off the airport security scanner. As the Scottish former World No 1 prepares to stage a remarkable return at Wimbledon from the hip resurfacing operation he underwent in London in January – he plays alongside partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the men’s doubles on Wednesday at the earliest - this revelation paints the picture of the relaxed frame of mind in which this 32-year-old is approaching this year’s competition.

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“I have taken two flights since the operation,” Murray said yesterday. “It went off both times. I didn’t actually think about it before because I don’t really remember that it’s in there now. So I went through, it went off and I was like, ‘oh for god sake’.

“And then when I got through, my wife was like, ‘You know that’s because of your hip’,” he added. “I was like, ‘Oh f***, of course’. Bob Bryan [the US doubles player, who also recovered after a similar problem] was telling me that you can get a medical certificate but I’m not going to walk around with that to say that I have got a metal hip and show that’s why I am setting the detector off.”