Andy Murray said he is proud that Wimbledon would unveil a statue in his honor at the 2027 Wimbledon Championships — and has faith that the All England Club would come up with a likeness of him that would not leave fans laughing or scratching their heads.
The last time a statue was made in Murray’s honor, at the 2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters, the former British No 1 was photographed next to a terracotta warrior that looked more like one of the US’ founding fathers or former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
Meanwhile a bust of Cristiano Ronaldo’s head at Madeira airport prompted widespread criticism — and amusement — when it was unveiled in 2018.
Photo: AFP
However, Murray said that he had no doubts that Wimbledon would get it right.
“When we played in Shanghai, they did these terracotta, warrior-type things, and they weren’t great,” he said. “But based on how Wimbledon goes about things, and their attention to detail, I would expect that it would be very good. So I trust that they’ll do a good job.”
Until now only Fred Perry, who won Wimbledon three times in a row in the 1930s, has a full-length statue on the grounds of the club. There are also five busts of British female champions displayed outside Centre Court, featuring Kitty Godfree, Dorothy Round, Angela Mortimer, Ann Jones and Virginia Wade.
Murray said he was delighted to be following in their footsteps.
“It’ll be nice to take the kids there and show them,” he said. “I obviously spend a decent amount of time there during the year, and always see the Fred Perry statue. So it will be strange to see one of me there, too, but I’m sure with time I’ll be really proud.”
Murray is to help design the statue to mark the grass-court tournament’s 150th anniversary.
“He’s got to rightly be very involved in that, and him and his team will be,” All England Club chairwoman Debbie Jevans said on Tuesday.
Murray ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a home champion in men’s singles in 2013 when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final. The Scotsman won the second title — and his third Grand Slam singles title overall — in a 2016 final against Milos Raonic.
An inspiration for the statue project is the way Rafael Nadal was honored, with Murray in attendance, this month at Roland Garros, where he won 14 French Open titles.
“We looked at Rafa Nadal having that sort of plaque unveiled to him at Roland Garros which was all very special,” Jevans said. “But we thought, what do we want for Andy?”
Additional reporting by AP
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS