Andy Murray Never Wants to Call His Kids ‘Useless’ As He Recalls Being Coached by Mom Judy

Andy Murray recently sat for an interview with British comedian Romesh Ranganathan, and among other topics, he recalled his childhood years under coach Judy Murray, also his mom. The three-time Grand Slam champion started playing tennis at the age of three, and he, according to Judy, was “useless”.

Back in 2010, in an interview, Murray said his mom spent hours throwing balls to hit, but he kept missing them, while his brother Jamie Murray hit them right away. He recalled having bad concentration as well as bad coordination. But as time progressed, he started to become better. When asked about his mom during his interview with Ranganathan, Murray joked that he for sure would not be calling his kids useless.

Looking back, when I started playing tennis, she was like, ‘You’re useless, you’re not good.’ And so when I’m playing like sports with my kids, I need to remember that they’re not always great at the beginning.

Murray also dismissed the ‘stern mom looking over her son’s career’ narrative. He said Judy never pushed him or his brother into playing tennis.

I think because she was a tennis coach, is that people would think, ‘Oh well, the mum’s a coach, the kids would become top tennis players, must have pushed them through that. And then when she was seen, like on the TV or whatever, she was always like supporting us, she’s really competitive as well.

Murray can’t understand everyone’s perception of his mother because he recalled her being “totally supportive” when he, as well as Jamie, were going through a period when they stopped playing tennis. He called people’s opinions of his mum “nonsense”.

Andy Murray on the most liked tennis tweet on X

Andy Murray called time on his career at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he played doubles with Dan Evans, and his campaign as well as his career ended with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to the USA’s Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. After his exit, Murray took to X and wrote: “Never even liked tennis anyway“.

The tweet has become the most liked tennis tweet (970k-plus) of all time with more than 47 million views. During his interview with Romesh Ranganathan, Murray was told that the tweet was “really good,” and he agreed.

So when I played my last match at the Olympics, I was in the locker room after I finished the match, and I went on my phone, sent message to my wife, my family, went on Twitter, and then just posted that, and I think it’s the most liked tennis tweet of all time, which is interesting.

Andy Murray said

Never even liked tennis anyway.

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) August 1, 2024

A few months after Murray’s retirement, his longtime rival Novak Djokovic used the tweet to announce his coaching partnership with the Scot. Last year in March, Djokovic split with Croatian coach Goran Ivanisevic, and in November, he hired Murray to the surprise of the whole tennis world.

The coaching deal, however, bore no result, and eventually, after six months, Djokovic announced the split. Under him, Djokovic played the semifinals of the Australian Open, but his run ended because of an injury, and he ended up handing the walkover to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic also played the final of the Miami Open, but there as well, he couldn’t end the event in his favor, losing the match in straight sets against Jakub Mensik. Following the end of the partnership, the 24-time Grand Slam champion lifted his career’s 100th singles title at the Geneva Open. Murray wants a coaching career in the future, but at present, he is content with his post-retirement life.

Also read: Alexander Zverev Explains What Makes it ‘Even More Difficult’ to Play Jannik Sinner After ATP Finals Defeat

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