Andy Murray details his 'two-faced' relationship with British fans

07/26/2024 02:00 PM

British when he won, Scottish when he lost: this was the treatment reserved over the years (at least in the beginning) by the crowd and fans (and often press) UK to tennis legend Andy Murray. And yet it was Andy who managed to win Wimbledon 77 years after the last success of an English tennis player at the All England Club. In fact, despite the successes of 2013 and 2016, the English are still without a champion from Fred Perry, as they had to borrow one from Scotland. Good for Murray, who demonstrated to the British press his immense talent and immense mental strength, in the era of giants, the Big 3.

Murray found an astonishing space during the golden era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Murray spoke about his relationship with British fans, once again showing his humility and diplomacy in his comments.

"I don't know, I'm not sure exactly why there's a big backlash around that, and there definitely is, and for sure, athletes, they feel it. Every time you lost and you didn't quite get there, you felt like there was a backlash and a disappointment that you hadn't achieved that goal. That's the thing I'll definitely miss a lot when I'm done. I think anyone who plays professional sport wants to play on the biggest courts. I didn't care if the crowd was for me or against me, it was just about playing in brilliant atmospheres," explained the Scot.

Murray then opened up about the tragedy that occurred when he was very young at the Dunblane school, where he and his brother Jamie were among the few survivors. The Scot also opened up about his future involvement in the spread of tennis among young people, perhaps starting right here in Scotland and Dunblane.

"I think there are some things I've learned from the Dunblane school shootings through my upbringing, through my life. It was obviously an incredibly difficult time, the way the whole town and community came together in an incredibly difficult time, and they never fully recovered but they became stronger through that. I've definitely learned a lot of strong values ​​from that. A tennis club in Dunblane? I think that's something my mum really wanted, and with me and Jamie finishing playing soon, we'll have the opportunity to be in Scotland more. You know, I'll always love tennis and I'll always want to be involved in trying to help the next British tennis players as much as I can. Yeah, I think it would be nice if there was a tennis centre up there," he said.