PLUS: What Judy Murray plans to do if Andy and Jamie meet
Judy dreads potential Murray showdown
JUDY MURRAY remembers what it used to be like to watch her sons play tennis against each other: ‘It was usually to make sure they didn’t fight!’ Thankfully, for mum at least, Andy and Jamie rarely stood at opposite ends of the court in competition. Whenever they did as juniors, Judy was too wrapped up trying to organise minibuses full of excitable youngsters to pay too much attention, while once the senior ranks beckoned Jamie became a doubles specialist as Andy preferred to go it alone.
However, sibling rivalry could reignite this week at Wimbledon.
Andy returns to SW19 for the first time in two years following surgery on a hip injury that he felt could end his career. He will play in the men’s doubles, partnering Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and will have a partner in the mixed. There is a chance it could be seven-times Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
In the men’s, if all goes to plan, a third-round meeting with six-time Grand Slam doubles winner brother Jamie and his partner Neal Skupski is on the horizon.
If that does happen, Judy will not be watching. ‘My biggest fear was they meet in the first round,’ Judy told The Mail on Sunday.
‘It has been good for family harmony over the years that one has played singles and the other doubles. If they play each other I’ll go to the pub and wait for a text!’
The Murray brothers have only faced each other in competition once before — in the Rogers Cup four years ago in Montreal. Jamie came out on top and Judy admits that is the way she used to prefer it.
‘They were always competitive, in the way siblings are,’ she said.
‘Back then, I always wanted Jamie to win because that was the natural order of things. If the younger sibling beats you, that’s much harder to take. Not now, though. I will be completely impartial — I just won’t think about it!’
The fact that Andy is competing is remarkable enough. It was only January when a tearful Andy feared his career was up at the Australian Open. Five months and a hipresurfacing operation later and the two-time Wimbledon singles champion made his return to action in the doubles at Queen’s last week. And he won it. ‘It’s great to see him without the limp and without pain, competing, relaxed and fighting,’ said Judy. ‘No one knew what was going to happen after Australia. ‘He said it was extra special.’ And there is no better place to play, she says, than Wimbledon. Judy first took them there when they were seven and eight on the train from Dunblane.
‘It was a massive inspiration for them. Jamie wanted to watch matches but Andy just wanted to watch the practice courts and try to get autographs. They started in the juniors in 2002 and I’ve been going every year since,’ she said.
‘It is a special place. It separates itself from other events. The white clothing, the brass band, the Pimm’s, the grass. It is steeped in tradition.’
Murray finds it difficult to pin down her favourite Wimbledon memory and can you blame her?
Jamie won the mixed doubles in 2007 aged 21 and he won it 10 years later. Andy, of course, ended the 76year wait for a British male singles champion in 2013, and won again in 2015. Yet one of her first memories, with Andy as a ‘scrawny 18-yearold’, sticks in her mind.
‘Andy played as a wildcard in 2005 and reached the third round. He played David Nalbandian on Centre Court,’ she said. ‘I remember taking my seat in the players’ box. I looked across at the Royal Box and there was Sir Sean Connery — James Bond! — jumping up and down cheering for Andy. I thought, how on earth did this happen?’
If Andy triumphs on Centre Court again this year, she will not be alone in asking herself the same question.