Sir Andy Murray moved to tears with accolade
An emotional Andy Murray was moved to tears as he was awarded the Freedom of the city of Stirling.
Collecting the honour in his home town clearly got to the Olympic and Wimbledon champ and he had to pause to wipe away tears.
He spoke of his immense pride in accepting the honour in Dunblane itself, where his roots and heart clearly still lie.
Stirling’s then Provost Mike Robbins presented the double Wimbledon champ with the honour at a special meeting of Stirling Council at Dunblane High.
Acknowledging the honour, Andy said: “I’m going to keep this very short because there is a good chance that I’m going to get emotional – it feels good to be home!”
As rapturous applause subsided, Andy quipped: “I’d like to thank the council for voting me in. I was expecting a few `nos’ and thinking `There’s got to be one of you that doesn’t like me!’.”
But what the occasion really meant to him then shone through as he became emotional as he thanked his family, friends and the girlfriend, Kim Sears, who was also in the audience.
Having to take time to compose himself, tearful Andy added: “Sorry. Everyone knows that I’m extremely proud of where I come from.
“To get this honour means a lot to me.” And of his emotional speech, Andy, breaking into a smile, added: “I apologise for this behaviour,” before being given a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom had tears in their eyes themselves.
Receiving Stirling’s highest civic award was the high point in a busy 24 hours for the man who made British tennis history when he ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion at Wimbledon.
He stayed overnight at Cromlix House, the five-star hotel he bought the prior year for £1.8m and went to Wallace High, Stirling, for a live web chat with pupils
He also picked up an honorary degree at Stirling University.
Pupils from Wallace High got the chance to quiz the area’s local hero on his success as part of a live BBC webcast.
Hosted by Question of Sport presenter, Sue Barker, Andy answered several questions from Wallace pupils and other children from all over the country who joined in online. With much of the audience donning the school’s purple sports jerseys, the Wimbledon champion was give a rapturous round of applause as he entered.
Questions put to him included `What’s your fastest serve?, (139mph) and `What was it like to win an Olympic gold medal?,’ to which he replied it was probably his proudest moment as he felt part of the Olympic team.
Andy said that his inspiration as a youngster was Andre Agassi, and that he found it difficult when he left Dunblane when he was only a teenager.
He said: “It’s strange (being from a small place), because part of playing tennis is that you travel all of the time. You go to lots of big cities, lots of the capital cities in the world. It’s strange when I come back, very different and I never expected to travel the world.
“It’s still home when I get back though.” Murray also took on two Wallace pupils in a tennis ball keepy-uppy challenge.