LordBrownof wrote:

---

The Olympic Channel over here showed about 6 games of the Murray/Salisbury match and they, particularly Joe, were on fire. They made the French look extremely ordinary. The exciting thing for our medal chances is that they looked like a good doubles team and not just two good players.

---

An extract from from James Gheerbrant's article in The Times:

Tokyo Olympics: Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury through but Heather Watson out in first round

A dark frontier has separated Andy Murray's third Olympics and his fourth. When he won gold in Rio, he was at his peak. Months later he would become the world No 1. Since then, he has publicly contemplated the end of his career, acquired a metal hip and had to adjust to the reality of his battle-worn body. Most of the time, this has been a painful process, and when Murray last played, and was beaten by Denis Shapovalov at Wimbledon, he wondered in an anguished press conference, "Is it worth it?". For Murray, beating the best players is the whole point, and in the lowest moments he, and we, have wondered whether he ever will again.

Perhaps on a singles court he might not. But here in the Olympic arena that has lifted him to some of his greatest heights, he and Joe Salisbury, playing their first ever professional match together, defeated the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the second seeds and the only active doubles pairing to have won all four grand slam titles. And this was not a close-run victory: they dominated the entire match, worked their opponents out and ruthlessly broke their resistance under a baking sun.

In truth, Murray might not have been the best player on the court. Salisbury, the 29-year-old Londoner who has reached the Australian Open final and the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in the past 12 months, was superb. It was he who produced the shot of the match in the pivotal game of the second set. Retrieving a perfect Herbert lob from the back corner with his back to the net, he turned the most hopeless position on the court into a point of attack, firing a low, fizzing shot between his legs, a stroke of startling skill and impudence. The British duo won the point and a few points later they had a break from which Herbert and Mahut never recovered.

There was real promise in the chemistry between Murray and Salisbury. Had Jamie Murray, a late replacement for the Covid-stricken Dan Evans, been in the original squad, he might well have reprised his partnership with his brother. But Salisbury and the two-times gold medallist brought the best out of each other, with Murray's booming returns setting up some sharp net play by Salisbury and will and energy flowing symbiotically between the two.

"I think we have the potential to be a really good team, I think the result today showed that," Murray said. "I think if we keep the same sort of attitude and prepare diligently, we've got a chance of doing well." The challenge remains stern, however: their second round match pits them against the German pair of Kevin Krawietz, the world No 7 and a two-times French Open champion, and his partner, Tim Pütz.

Meanwhile, Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski also came through their opening match after a tough test, beating the Argentinian pair of Horacio Zeballos and Andrés Molteni in a champions' tie-break, 6-7, 6-4, 13-11.

wolf wrote:

---

These are our first men's doubles wins at the Olympics since 2008.

---

 Thanks Wolf, hadnt realised that 

Jan wrote:

---

If, like me, you've only got access to the Beeb, there's about 20 mins worth of Andy and Joe (followed by longer of Hev) showing on BBC website. I was really pleased to find it!
Go to www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/olympics/50973971
then choose Day 1 Red Button 16:00-17:00 - it's at the start

---

 Ah great! thanks for this!! 

GBJ wrote:

---

Jan wrote:

---

If, like me, you've only got access to the Beeb, there's about 20 mins worth of Andy and Joe (followed by longer of Hev) showing on BBC website. I was really pleased to find it!
Go to www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/olympics/50973971
then choose Day 1 Red Button 16:00-17:00 - it's at the start

---

 Ah great! thanks for this!! 

---

 You're welcome! I haven't tracked any more down yet, but will post if I do!