Andy Murray drawn in opposition to Tomas Machac in Wimbledon first spherical

Chaos erupted due to an embarrassing and protracted technical blunder during the Wimbledon women’s singles draw this morning, before Andy Murray was drawn against Tomas Machac in the first round of the men’s singles. 

Announcers had to pause for several moments during the draw after Beatriz Haddad Maia’s name was called out but Mirra Andreeva appeared in the digital board displaying the draw. It caused a knock-on effect and took several minutes to untangle. 

Despite a lengthy discussion with the technical team in between draws, a similar misplacement occurred in the men’s draw but this time it was spotted early and corrected. 

Murray, meanwhile, could be set to appear in his last singles match at the All England Club – if he is fit to make the starting line. 

The 37-year-old is fighting to recover from surgery to remove a spinal cyst, and admits it is more likely he will not be fit for the singles. 

Although he will be pleased to have been drawn in the opposite half to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, meaning he will start his campaign on Tuesday rather than Monday and have an extra day to recover.

The matchup against Machac will bring back grim memories for Murray – he was beating the Czech and playing extremely well in Miami in March before an ankle injury ruined his chances; he has barely been fit since.

It could certainly have been worse but Machac is a tough draw. If the Scot is not ready for the singles he will try to play the men’s doubles with brother Jamie.

The Murray brothers were drawn in the men’s doubles against Rinky Hijikata and John Peers after the pair were handed a late wildcard on Thursday. 

It comes after the three-time Grand Slam champion had stated he that it would be ‘special’ to play alongside his brother in the doubles tournament. 

‘Getting to play with Jamie in the doubles is something that obviously I have never done before. That can be special as well,’ he said when opening up on his plan to retire. 

There were 19 British players across both men’s and women’s draws, the most since 1999, and none should feel too unhappy with their draws.

Emma Raducanu plays Russian No 22 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. The 29-year-old reached the fourth round last year, but there were certainly tougher draws for an unseeded player and Raducanu looks to be in an open section of the draw.

No 28 seed Jack Draper starts against Elias Ymer, of Switzerland. Draper could play Cam Norrie – the man he usurped as British No1, who begins against Argentine Facundo Diaz Acosta – in the second round. 

The winner of that could play French Open finalist Alexander Zverev in the third round.

Female British No1 Katie Boulter, the No 32 seed, starts against 2018 quarter-finalist Tatjana Maria, of Germany and faces the prospect of a third-round clash with No5 seed Jessica Pegula.

Alcaraz starts against qualifier Mark Layal, and is due to face world No1 Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. 

That means No 2 seed Novak Djokovic cannot meet either of those young superstars until the final. Djokovic starts against qualifier Vit Kopriva and could then face British wildcard Jacob Fearnley in the second round, if the Scot can beat Spanish qualifier Alejandro Moro Canas.

There is trouble early on for Sinner, who could face unseeded former finalist Matteo Berrettini in the second round.