Andy Murray described as ‘one of the great guys’ although he acts ‘like a pork chop’ and is ‘a bit whiny’
There was praise for Andy Murray from former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs following his “pretty phenomenal” Ukraine relief effort gesture, but she also made fun of his on-court demeanour.
Former world No 1 Murray was last week named as the recipient of the ATP’s Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for 2022 after donating his prize money to helping children in the Ukraine.
Murray, a Unicef ambassador since 2014, had announced in March that he would donate his earnings to help kids in the European country following Russia’s invasion in February.
He donated $630,000 (approximately £510,000) in total and was rewarded for his efforts and the three-time Grand Slam winner said: “It seemed like something that would give me some extra motivation this year. I thought I could also raise some awareness and hopefully get others involved in helping, too.
“There are 7.5million children in Ukraine and, after more than nine months of increased conflict, 5.2million of them are in need of assistance.
The Scot added: “When you see images of children on the news who were impacted by things like this, that makes it even more difficult to stomach. I have four young children who are really fortunate that everything is fine with them. But, being a parent, it affects you differently. You try to put yourself in their shoes.”
Murray, only the fourth player to win the award multiple times after Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi as he was also honoured in 2014, was widely praised for his efforts and Grand Slam doubles champions Stubbs described his decision to donate his prize money as “pretty phenomenal”.
“Obviously the guy has a lot of money. He clearly has made a lot of money from the sport of tennis but it’s still well over half a million dollars to give away. It’s pretty phenomenal. That is his money, he earned, he’s just one of the great guys,” she said on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
Although the television commentator also joked about his on-court character as she used some peculiar words and phrases to deliver said praise.
The Australian added: “He gets a bad rap. He’s a little tough to watch sometime. He carries on at times on the court like a porkchop [sic]. We know that we’ve given him a crack about it. You know, he’s a bit whiny, complainy. But, off the tennis court, there’s no better guy, there’s no nicer guy, there’s no funnier guy.”
READ MORE: Andy Murray receives Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for touching Ukraine relief effort
