Andy Murray welcomed formerly imprisoned Iranian author Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe to the Center Court after she hailed him as an inspiration during her time in jail

The Brit expressed that he wished that she would watch Wimbledon this time under 'different circumstances'.

Andy Murray and Nazanin Zaghari - Ratcliffe (Credits: Evening Standard)

British Tennis player Andy Murray beat fellow countryman Ryan Peniston in the first round of Wimbledon 2023. Murray dominated his opponent the entire match; it showed in the final scorelines of 6 -3, 6 -0, and 6 -1.

With Andy Murray turning back the clock on his form, it seems like it’s 2016 all over again, with one notable exception. British-Iranian author Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe was among the fans supporting the British legend this time around.

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Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe is an Iranian-British author who has been imprisoned in Iran amidst civil unrest since 2016. She had been accused of spying and attempting to topple the Iranian government. However, these allegations were not made public until very recently.

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Watching 2016 final made her feel a lot better, says Zaghari – Ratcliffe

Andy Murray at Wimbledon (Credits: Hindustan Times)

During her time in prison, she had been granted permission to watch TV. Nazanin recently revealed that she watched Andy Murray’s 2016 Wimbledon final from prison and claimed that watching that made her feel closer to home and eased her time in jail. “It felt like a connection; it felt like an escape,” said Zaghari-Ratcliffe. “I was close to home all of a sudden.”

Andy Murray kept note of this and decided to invite her to this year’s Wimbledon, to watch it ‘in different circumstances’, in the Briton’s words. “Well, firstly, she hadn’t been to Wimbledon before. After I spoke with her, and the story she told me about watching my Wimbledon final while she was in a cell, yeah, I felt like I wanted to invite her to come along and watch the tennis in totally different circumstances,”.

“Glad she could make it. Yeah, she seemed happy that I got the win. Yeah, it was good,” said Murray after meeting Nazanin following his victory. Nazanin and Murray were able to meet for a short period after his match, during which she thanked him for the opportunity to watch Wimbledon.

Murray is set to face the victor of the Tsitsipas-Thiem match, which was suspended due to rain. As of now, Thiem leads 6–3, 3–4.