The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Murray reveals tennis is an ‘escape’ from Dunblane demons.
DOCUMENTARY: Scots sporting great tells of trauma after shootings at town primary school
Andy Murray has described tennis as an “escape” in a new documentary on his comeback from injury and referenced the trauma he suffered after the Dunblane school shootings.
He and his brother Jamie were present during the 1996 incident at Dunblane Primary School where Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and a teacher before killing himself.
During the premiere of Andy Murray: Resurfacing – which will be available on Amazon Prime Video from Friday – the former world number one explained to the documentary’s director Olivia Cappuccini why he is so determined to continue playing the sport.
In a voice note to Cappuccini, Murray said: “You asked me a while ago why tennis was important to me. I had the
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I am sure for all the kids there it would be difficult for different reasons. ANDY MURRAY
thing that happened at Dunblane, when I was around nine.
“I am sure for all the kids there it would be difficult for different reasons. The fact we knew the guy, we went to his kids’ club, he had been in our car, we had driven and dropped him off at train stations and things.
“Within 12 months of that happening, our parents got divorced. It was a difficult time. To see that and not quite understand what is going on.
“And then six to 12 months after that, my brother also moved away from home to train to play tennis. We obviously used to do everything together. When he moved away that was also quite hard for me.
“Around that time and after that, for a year or so, I had lots of anxiety that came out when I was playing tennis.
“My feeling towards tennis is that it’s an escape for me in some ways because all of these things are stuff that I have bottled up. I don’t know because we don’t talk about these things. They are not things that are discussed.
“The way that I am, on the tennis court, I show some positive things about my personality and I also show the bad things and things I really hate. Tennis allows me to be that child, that has all of these questions, and that’s why tennis is important to me.”