Andy Murray’s ‘kids have no interest’ in tennis as he also opens up about creating new routines after he retires

Andy Murray enjoys a light-hearted moment

Shahida Jacobs
March 2, 2023

Sometimes the apple does fall far away from the tree and in Andy Murray’s case there are several apples and none of his children are particularly keen on tennis.

Murray and his wife Kim Sears are parents to four kids with their eldest daughter Sophia born in February 2016 before Edie – also a girl – arrived two years later with the couple not giving the exact date of birth. Their son Teddy was born in October 2019 while their youngest – a girl – was born in March 2021 although the parents are yet to publicly reveal her name.

So does any of their children take after their famous dad and show an interest in taking up tennis?

“My eldest [Sophia, seven] loves animals, so we got a couple of rabbits the other day. She’s a lot more interested in the pets than anything tennis related,” three-time Grand Slam winner Murray told Stuart Fraser of The Times.

“It is quite interesting because some of their school friends, whether it’s through their families or whatever, will watch. But my kids have no interest.”

Murray, of course, is in the twilight of his career as at the age of 35 – he turns 36 in May – he is not sure how many more years he has left as a tennis player.

Having spent nearly two decades on the ATP Tour, naturally there will be a big void once he does hang up his racket.

The former world No 1 believes there will be ways to fill a part of that hole, but some things can’t be replaced.

“I don’t think I should have an expectation that anything will replace it necessarily, but there are things like coaching, and I’ll definitely try to play other sports, like golf and stuff,” he said. “The thing that I guess I probably will miss the most is obviously the competition, but also the drive to always be learning and keep getting better at something.

“This is a small thing, but for me it matters: through the first few tournaments of the year, my first-serve percentage is the highest it’s ever been in my career [an average of 62.5 per cent]. Even though it’s a 3 or 4 per cent difference, that stuff matters to me, small details and things that I’m still working on to try to get better.

“I think that’s probably the thing that, along with the competition, will be like, when you wake up in the morning, what are you trying to get better at, what are you trying to improve? It’s the routine that I will miss the most and will be hardest to replace.

“Certain parts of that I can replace with the routines with the children, like getting them ready for school drop-offs, pick-ups and those sorts of things. I will create different routines, but obviously it’s a bit different.”

Andy Murray Lifestyle