What’s that racquet? Murray admits Hibs goals made him cry
HE famously lost control of his emotions after losing to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final.
And tennis ace Andy Murray admits his tendency to burst into tears dates back to his childhood – whenever his beloved Hibs scored a goal.
The world number one enjoyed regular family trips to the Edinburgh club’s Easter Road stadium as a boy.
He said: ‘When Hibs would score a goal and everyone would start screaming, I would start crying. It was too loud for me. That’s not the case any more when I go to watch games. I wouldn’t cry now.’
Murray, 30, said Hibs’ topsyturvy progress taught him to ‘get used to losing’ – but also the joy of winning. ‘It does help,’ he said. ‘You get used to losing at a young age.’
Murray’s grandfather, Roy Erskine, turned out for Hibs in the 1950s. The two-time Wimbledon champ said: ‘My aunties and uncles, my dad and my mum, would take me and my brother [Jamie] along and it was like family time.
‘It was a nice family atmosphere with not too much swearing or aggression.
‘Me and my brother started playing at a really young age and always enjoyed it.’
Murray revealed he could have had a career as a striker after starring for local boys’ club Gairdoch United.
He said: ‘I always played up front. I was bigger than a lot of the guys I was playing with, which helped, but I liked scoring goals.’
At around 14 he turned down Rangers, for whom Gairdoch acted as a feeder club.
Murray told Sky Sports: ‘We did a training session in front of some of the Rangers scouts. My parents got asked if I would like to go along to train at the Rangers school of excellence. But that was also around the time where I was having to decide, “What do I do?”. I couldn’t go and do that and also try to play tennis.’
He said he played five-a-side football ‘once or twice a week when I was at home until I was like 24 or 25’, but that back problems meant he had to give it up. Murray said: ‘I stopped playing but I miss it.’