A three-time Grand Slam champion, two-time Olympic Gold medalist and former world No. 1, Andy Murray has written his name into tennis history with his stellar performances on the court. But throughout his career, the Briton has also made his mark on herstory as a fierce ally for women in sports.
Growing up with brother Jamie in Dunblane, the boys were introduced to the game by their mother. Judy, who would remain Murray's primary coach until he left Scotland for Barcelona's Sanchez-Casal Academy at age 15, encouraged her son to practice against girls at Dunblane Tennis Academy to experience different styles of play. In Barcelona, Murray often practiced with Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is two years his elder.
"Having a mother who was as interested and involved in sport as mine was, it has always felt very natural for me that girls should be as engaged in sport as boys," Murray, who has two young daughters among his now four children, explained in a 2017 first-person article for the BBC.
And while his respect for the women's game began at a young age, his understanding of the many challenges facing women in sports grew tremendously after he made the decision to hire Amelie Mauresmo as his full-time coach in June 2014. The groundbreaking appointment made Murray the first male player of his stature to work with a lead female coach.
After his ranking dropped to as low as No. 12 early in their partnership, as he recovered from back surgery, the Scot returned to No. 3 within eight months and rose further, to world No. 2, under Mauresmo's tutelage.
"I felt I was able to open up the first time we chatted," Murray told The Red Bulletin in June 2015. "I was returning from back surgery, which was difficult. After the surgery I really needed help and guidance... She listened well to how I was feeling.
"I'm not sure why, but ever since I was young, I've found it easier to to open up and talk about how I'm feeling with the women closest to me—my mom, my wife," he added.
Despite their on-court success, the pair received criticisms in the press and even inside the locker room, with many not accepting Murray's partnership the former WTA world No. 1.
"I couldn't believe the negativity towards [Mauresmo] personally." - Andy Murray
"I was very surprised at the amount of criticism she received for each loss I had," Murray continued in The Red Bulletin. "I couldn't believe the negativity towards her personally. That has never happened with any other coach I've worked with before. It was a shock."
Also in June 2015, he penned a column in L'Equipe responding to the sexist critiques.
"I got off to a bad start last season and things have only gotten better since Amelie arrived," he wrote, noting how pundits blamed Mauresmo for his heavy defeat to Roger Federer at the 2014 ATP Finals.
"Have I become a feminist?" he concluded. "Well, if being a feminist is about fighting so that a woman is treated like a man then yes, I suppose I have."
The pair mutually agreed to part ways in May of 2016, a year that Murray would finish atop the ATP rankings for the first and only time in his career. In 2019, the Frenchwoman was brought on by compatriot Lucas Pouille as his coach and helped guide him to the 2019 Australian Open semifinals, his best career finish at a Grand Slam.
In recent years, Murray has been an outspoken advocate for women's equality in sports, using his platform as a white male to call out "the ridiculous sexism that still exists in sport," as he opined in an Instagram story in 2018, adding, "I've been involved in sport my whole life, and the level of sexism is unreal."
When the topic of equal pay came up at Indian Wells in 2016, Murray was unwavering in his stance.
"There should be equal pay, 100%, at all combined events," he said, responding to previous comments that more fans come to watch the men's game.
"The crowds are coming to watch the women as well. The whole thing just doesn't stack up—it changes on a day-to‑day basis depending on the matches you get.
"Men's tennis has been lucky over the last nine or 10 years with the players they've had, the rivalries which have come out of that. That's great, but the whole of tennis should capitalise on that—not just the men's game."
A gruff interjection at a 2017 Wimbledon press conference—when he reminded a reporter that Sam Querrey was, in fact, the first U.S. "male player" to reach a major semifinal since 2009—is still frequently shared on social media in 2021. He made a similar remark after winning his second Olympic gold medal in 2016, correcting a reporter who mistakenly said that he was the first person ever to win two Olympic tennis golds: "I think Venus and Serena have won about four each." (While Murray is the only player—male or female—to win two Olympic singles golds, the Williams sisters indeed have four gold medals apiece, one each in singles and three as a pair in doubles. Pam Shriver and Gigi Fernandez also won two doubles golds, repeating in 1992 and '96.)
In 2017, Murray had his say when then-world No.1 Angelique Kerber was scheduled to play on No. 2 Court at Wimbledon, the third show court behind Centre Court and No. 1 Court.
“I don’t think anyone’s suggesting [the scheduling] is fair," he said in press. "I’m not suggesting that it is.
“If there’s better matches on the women’s side than the men’s side, you can flip it. If there’s better matches on the men’s side, then that has to go first, as well,” he said.
Throughout his on-court career, Murray has never been one to back down from a fight—whether it's battling through a fifth set to win his first major at the 2012 US Open, or scrapping his way to a first Wimbledon title in his eighth attempt. Now 33, he is battling back from injury once again, with his latest setback causing him to miss the 2021 Miami Open.
Such adversity leaves him well-prepared for the ongoing off-court fight for women's equality in sports—one that he's sure to remain a part of long after his playing career, right alongside his mother, who received an OBE from Prince Wiliam in 2017 for her services to tennis and women in sport.
"Tennis has come a long way since the US Open first gave equal pay to men and women," Murray wrote for the BBC.
"And it's great that all the Slams pay their male and female champions the same. No other sport is doing as much as tennis, and it's great to be part of a sport that is leading the way. Hopefully tennis can put pressure on other sports to do the same."
