Andy Murray: Tennis to Fatherhood – A Life Update

For 20 years, Andy Murray traveled around the world and played in packed stadiums for the biggest titles in tennis. He was knighted for his successes – with the Wimbledon title in 2013 he ended the British drought after 77 years, and he won Olympic gold in singles twice. Since resigning in the summer of 2024, he has now taken on a new full-time job: as father to his 9-, 8- and 4-year-old daughters Sophia, Edie and Lola and his 6-year-old son Teddy.

“Being at home with the kids is great,” he said on “The Tennis Podcast,” in which he gives raw insights into his new life in a 90-minute conversation. «I am in the very privileged position that I can do everything with my children. On Monday morning at 10 a.m. I watched my daughter’s country hockey game for three hours. It was pouring rain, but it was wonderful. I missed these things when I was still playing.”

Andy Murray’s son is not a good loser

As a tennis professional, he could sometimes allow himself to sleep in in the morning, as most matches only take place in the afternoon or evening. That’s over now. “Two of the children are up at 5:45 a.m. Every morning,” he said. «Yesterday I played Monopoly with my six-year-old son at 6 a.m. That’s where you’ll really get going. Our parents had to forbid my brother and I from playing Monopoly because it caused so many arguments among us.”

The son also seems to have a hot temper. The first Monopoly game, London edition, was won by Teddy against his father. In the second, he decided to build hotels on the two most expensive fields – Mayfair and Park Lane. But he had only had Mayfair, so he was saving his money in case he ended up on Park Lane. And failed to build elsewhere.

The six-year-old did not respond to his father’s well-intentioned advice. In the following two rounds he went bankrupt because he landed on fields containing his father’s houses. “Over and over,” commented Andy Murray dryly. “We played for two hours and at the end my son completely freaked out. And I asked myself: Why am I doing this to myself? “Anyway, this is my life now.”

His children are happy that he is home more often, says Murray. Even though it was quite a change for his eldest daughter at first. “It was difficult for her when I dropped her off at school or picked her up or accompanied her to see her friends. If I attracted people’s attention, she couldn’t handle it.”

But recently, for the first time, Sophia ran straight to the car when he picked her up and smiled at him. “And I thought: Maybe she’ll be a little less ashamed of me now.”

The coaching commitment with Novak Djokovic

Murray’s role as a full-time dad was interrupted by a six-month coaching engagement with Novak Djokovic from the end of November 2024 to May 2025. He did not accept because family life had become too monotonous for him or he was missing tennis, emphasized Murray. “But it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I would like to work as a coach at some point. And if I had canceled Novak, I would have regretted it later. That’s why I was happy that my wife agreed to let me go.”

The spectacular partnership with Novak Djokovic did not bring the hoped-for success. Murray prepared the Australian Open with the Serb and helped him achieve a quarterfinal victory over Carlos Alcaraz with his tactical tips. But in the following round Djokovic had to retire injured against Alexander Zverev and then didn’t find its shape again for a long time. After the fourth first-round defeat, Djokovic and Murray separated amicably. “I’m glad I did it, but disappointed we didn’t get the results we wanted,” summed up Murray.

At least he took one funny story with him: After the first training session together, Djokovic asked him if he would accompany him on a casual run around the park. Jogging isn’t Murray’s forte, but he couldn’t say no on his first day of work. After five minutes he started having cramps in his left calf. They jogged for 50 minutes, very slowly, he was in terrible pain. “I pushed through it, but the whole thing was pretty embarrassing.”

The Scot doesn’t miss tennis

He doesn’t miss tennis, said Murray. «I don’t miss being in the first point of a match Wimbledon to stand on the baseline to serve. Sure, I would like to experience the feeling of winning Wimbledon again. But getting there is extremely hard. I have dedicated a large part of my life to tennis. I’m glad I did it. But I don’t feel a feeling of emptiness that I now have to fill with anything.”

Murray said he suffered from always being compared to the big three. «I constantly played against Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. They were my benchmark; I wanted to challenge them or exceed them. But when you looked at their successes, mine seemed almost insignificant. When I was in there, anything other than a Grand Slam title felt like I had failed. That’s not a healthy way of thinking.”

Within ten days of his resignation, his perspective on his career completely changed. Now he is proud of what he has achieved. Watching his daughter cross-country was eye-opening: “She came seventh and I thought, Oh my God, that’s great! Seventh of 100 children in the local school district. When I was playing tennis, I came second in a Grand Slam tournament and thought: This is a disaster.” That doesn’t make any sense.

Andy Murray’s career is far away. His wife Kim had a trophy cabinet made – it is now in the basement. He rarely goes there and looks at them, Murray said. His children enjoyed the Olympic gold medals from London 2012 and Rio 2016 the most. “They like to wear the medals. At first I was pretty picky, but now I think: Oh, whatever. That’s fine. Then they just scratch them – whatever.”

Found an error? Report now.