Wimbledon champion faces bewildering array of commitments following historic win – and no day off His national treasure status is secure, the lavish endorsement deals are certain to follow, there have been mutters about a knighthood even from the prime minister. But of all the rich prizes that have been promised to Andy Murray following his historic Wimbledon victory, it was abundantly clear on Monday that the one thing he most wished for was absolutely out of the question: a day off
Wimbledon champion faces bewildering array of commitments following historic win – and no day off
His national treasure status is secure, the lavish endorsement deals are certain to follow, there have been mutters about a knighthood even from the prime minister. But of all the rich prizes that have been promised to Andy Murray following his historic Wimbledon victory, it was abundantly clear on Monday that the one thing he most wished for was absolutely out of the question: a day off.
After playing 189 minutes of a final in temperatures nudging 50C, at the conclusion of a punishing 13-day tournament, the player had earned at least a chance for a small snatch of time in which to catch his breath. But as Murray acknowledged in his on-court interview immediately following the match, things are a little different this year compared to last, when he came second.
From the moment he stepped off the court carrying the famous silver gilt cup, every moment of the Scot’s time has been accounted for, a bewildering round of tournament and sponsor commitments, press interviews and meetings, throughout all of which he has forced himself into a good-natured, if weary, grin.
Immediately after lifting the champion’s cup on Sunday there were broadcast interviews, a brief physical cooldown, a press conference with the tournament’s accredited media (“I don’t know … I don’t really know what to say just now”), his drugs test, greetings with Wimbledon officials and guests who had been in the royal box, updating his Twitter and Facebook pages, and the pressing need to stock up on calories and protein within an hour of competing, which for much of the tournament has meant large quantities of sushi prepared by its specialist chefs.
He snatched some time with his mum to watch key parts of his final against Novak Djokovic and news reports of the reaction in his home town of Dunblane and around the country, before it was time to get ready for the Champions Ball, a commitment which all Wimbledon winners must fulfil. By the time Murray, showered and dressed in black tie, walked the red carpet of the Intercontinental hotel, central London, clutching the hand of his girlfriend Kim Sears, it was after midnight.
The couple left the party at 2am, arriving home around 3am, Murray clutching a box, Sears in bare feet with her high heels in one hand. They were met there by a clutch of paparazzi who had climbed over the gates of their gated community, prompting the player’s representative to contact the Press Complaints Commission to plead for their privacy to be respected.
By 7.30am, after 90 minutes’ sleep – sharing the bed with the couple’s two dogs Rusty and Maggie May but not, he said, the cup – a pink-eyed Murray was back at the All-England Club for another round of interviews with national and international media. It wasn’t as if he had been perfectly rested the night before – Murray told one interviewer that on Saturday night he had dreamed he was playing the final against either Radek Stepanek, the world number 48, or Denis Kudla, ranked 90, only to wake to recall that it was the world No 1, Novak Djokovic.
Between 8am and 10am the player spoke to several BBC outlets, Sky News, Bloomberg news, CNN, ESPN, international press, British press, and recorded messages on the internet apps Vine and Instagram. Yes, he’d prefer to be a Wimbledon winner than prime minister, he told John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.
No, it wasn’t true that he preferred smooth balls to fluffy ones. No, he wouldn’t reveal whether he planned to pop the question to Sears, he told ITV’s This Morning – “I only met you 10 minutes ago so I wouldn’t be telling you first.”
“I know you’re so tired that you can’t stop yawning,” said one sympathetic interviewer. “I was pretty beat up when I woke up,” admitted Murray.
Unlucky, because there was a long way to go yet. “Got 10 minutes to answer a few questions right now”, tweeted the player as he left the ground, responding to questions from fans. (From @jay_williams 123: “How many racquets did you have in your bag for the final yesterday? 9?” @andy_murray: “I had 11 yesterday”.) He spoke on the phone to David Beckham (“What did he say?” “Well done, pretty much”) and had messages from Sir Alex Ferguson and “loads of people, friends, family, people that had coached me when I was younger”.
Next, an event for his sponsors Adidas (who having also sponsored the Lions, have had a good weekend) at a community centre in Kennington, south London, where the player hit a few gentle balls at 100 members of the public who had been queueing in the sunshineto meet him.
Shortly after 4pm, a Bentley pulled up at the end of Downing Street, from which Murray emerged, now in a dark suit and tie that was almost tartan in pattern.
He was met on the steps of No 10 by David Cameron (“unbelievably proud”, said the PM, who earlier in the day had said “frankly I can’t think of anyone who deserves [a knighthood] more”), and applauded through the door by staff, to be faced by another round of grip ‘n’ grin in the gardens with Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, and the SNP’s parliamentary leader Angus Robertson among others.
What next for Murray, or as his sponsors and several newspapers deemed him, “the Champion”?
On Monday night, finished at last with most of his immediate commitments, he and his team got together for a celebration dinner. And then: “I was planning on going away for a week or so on holiday, I’m not sure exactly where yet, but it would be nice to go away.” His coach, Ivan Lendl, has told him to take a week before they speak again.
Then it’s back to training for the hardcourt season, starting with the Canada Masters in early August and building to the defence of his US Open title at the end of that month. “I hope I don’t lose hunger,” he said on Monday. “I think I should be able to use this as motivation. I’ve never had to defend a Grand Slam before. That’ll be a new experience for me, and I’ll look forward to that.”