IT MUST BE LOVE
Andy Murray's new biggest fan
WITH the Duchess of Cambridge disappearing from public view, Britons have turned to Kim Sears as their new favourite glamour figure.
Sears, 25, is the girlfriend of their tennis hero Andy Murray, who will play in the men’s singles final at Wimbledon today.
Britons believe Sears has come along at the right moment to fill the gap left by the absence of Prince William’s wife, Kate, who has made her last public appearance before the birth of the royal couple’s first child.
Consider the Sears evidence. She has got the great hair (more artfully tousled than Kate’s, but just as enviably luxuriant), the fabulous slim figure, the wide, ready smile and nicely middle-class origins.
In tune with the mood of the Brits, she also rocks a high-street label with stylish aplomb, leaving only a £1 500 (about R23 000) blush pink Mulberry handbag to quietly convey her well-heeled status. It is too early to gauge the full Kim Effect, but if her chap finally conquers at Wimbledon today, her profile will soar.
A more crucial similarity between Kim and Kate is, perhaps, the supporting role they both play — one that is demanded of a woman in a relationship with a worldclass sportsman or, indeed, a prince of the realm.
Whatever the dynamic of their partnership in private, in public Sears is inevitably the Wag and Murray, 26, the main attraction. It is not a comfortable position for anyone with a large ego. His diary, of necessity, dominates. His schedule will always take priority over family hatches, matches and dispatches.
Sears claims to hate watching her boyfriend play — yet, loyally, she turns up for every match because Murray needs her. Certainly, it was obvious from her facial expressions this week that she lives every hardfought point.
As his chief cheerleader, she vicariously endured the agony and the ecstasy of his nail-biting battle against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. But she did not suffer in silence — onlookers were taken aback by how vocal Sears was. She oohed and aahed loudly; her intakes of breath were audible and her frowns and smiles a weather vane of how her Scotsman was faring.
One seasoned spectator was given to note that between serves, once the applause had died down and a hush had descended, time and again Sears would start cheering once more, followed by other members of Team Murray, and would have to be quietened down before a point could be played.
If her chap finally conquers at Wimbledon, her profile will soar
What little is known of Sears is unimpeachable. Born in East Sussex, she was privately educated and gained A levels in music, art and drama before studying English literature at the University of Sussex.
Her father, Nigel, is a tennis coach. Her path crossed with Murray’s at the 2005 French Open, when she was 17, and they began dating. In 2009, they split up, the cause of which could be reliably guessed: his jet-setting lifestyle. But Murray, who is known to be heavily reliant on his small but steadfast band of acolytes, is said to have found it so tough without her that he wooed her again and they were reunited within six months.
They now live together in his £5-million house in Oxshott, Surrey, with their border terriers. Last year, Sears set herself up in business as a pet portraitist. — © The Daily Telegraph, London