The former tennis champion opens up about life at home with wife and four kids, and the one moment in his career he’d go back to relive

Born in Glasgow in May 1987, former professional tennis player Sir Andy Murray grew up in Dunblane and started playing tennis at age three. Coached by his mother Judy alongside his older brother Jamie, at 15 Murray moved to Barcelona to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy to boost his career prospects.

He quickly gained success and established himself as one of the best tennis players worldwide, winning 46 titles, including the US Open, two at Wimbledon, and two singles gold Olympic medals. Murray retired two years ago, but together with his wife Kim Sears, he runs Cromlix hotel near Dunblane, and he recently became an associate partner at venture capitalist Redrice Ventures. He lives in Surrey with Kim, and his children Sophia, 9, Edie, 7, Teddy, 5, and Lola, 4.

Here he looks back on the moments that changed his perspective on work, love, family, money and health.

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Kim has been unbelievable when it comes to supporting me throughout my career. She’s been the perfect supporter. She really encouraged me to keep pursuing my career. It’s hard sometimes because we have quite a few kids, but we try and make time for lunch or going to the gym together when the kids are at school. I think making time for one another is important. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.

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My worst financial decision was buying a fancy car – a Ferrari – when I was younger. I never ended up driving it. I sold it about three months after I bought it. A few of my friends said I should buy a fancy car and I thought why not? But when I got it, I regretted it. I’m not hugely into cars. I’ll happily drive anything.

Right now, I just want to be around for my kids. I don’t think it’s the easiest time for kids growing up with the problems associated with screens, phones, and social media. I think it’s a little bit tricky to navigate. My ambition is to try and be a good dad and a good husband, and when the kids are more grown up and are able to take care of themselves then I’ll focus a little bit more on what I want to do with that stage of my life. But right now, I’m really happy doing what I’m doing. It’s a big responsibility bringing up children.

I don’t think I would be where I am today if it hadn’t been for my parents. I believe that some people have certain natural gifts but it often takes the parents to make big sacrifices to allow children to explore what those gifts are. We [my older brother Jamie and I] were fortunate to have parents that were willing to make big sacrifices for us, and take us to tennis tournaments and lessons. Without their support and sacrifices, we wouldn’t have stood a chance of doing what we’ve done.

In my early teens I had to make the difficult decision between focusing on playing tennis or football. At weekends there was quite a bit of pressure on me to choose. It was really hard because I loved playing football, especially as I was with my friends and playing in teams. I remember walking with my dad to the car after leaving my tennis session early [to go to my football lesson]. I told him that I wanted to go back and finish my tennis session. That was when I realised I couldn’t commit to both.

I felt like I’d made it when I broke into the rankings of the top 100 [professional tennis players] in the world and when I played Wimbledon for the first time. When I was younger, I didn’t necessarily have ambitions to be number one in the world, or to win Wimbledon. I just wanted to become a professional tennis player. But playing at Wimbledon for the first time and being named as one of the top 100 players in the world made me feel like I had made it as a tennis player.

I really noticed the way women are treated differently when I started to be coached by Amelie Mauresmo [Murray’s coach from 2014 to 2016]. Many players would comment on the fact that I was being coached by a woman, and the media would question me about it, particularly after losing a match, which I’d never experienced before. It wasn’t fair. And then I started to notice the disparity more and more with journalists asking questions which would dismiss women’s achievements or forget about them altogether. Commenting on this was not something I pre-planned but I started to pick up on it.

The injuries I had during my career definitely taught me about patience. There was a feeling – I think this is true for everyone – that life isn’t fair. It isn’t. Stuff happens that is out of control to everybody, every day. It’s just something you have to deal with. The only way that I dealt with it was by focusing on all the things that were going to give me the best chance to recover as quickly possible, such as training properly, going to the gym, eating properly, and getting the right nutrients.

If I could go back and relive a moment in my career it would probably be the London Olympics. There was a lot of positivity around the country and it was the most fun I had on a tennis court in my career.

I felt sad about retiring but it was the right moment for me to move on. I couldn’t physically do it anymore. My body was telling me I needed to stop. But now I get to focus on being a parent. I get to drop off and pick up the kids up from school, be around for training the new puppy, and just do the stuff a normal family do.

When I was competing, I was really aware of how important it is to eat well. My team were always on at me about eating the right amount of protein, particularly after matches, and making sure that I ate at the right times and I was recovering properly from training. I also want to make sure my puppy, Bonnie, eats well.

Andy Murray, and puppy Bonnie, have partnered with Purina PRO PLAN®, to inspire pet owners to care for their pets like a PRO.