Judy Murray wants to play golf.
Yes, at the age of 64, after a lifetime in the tennis coaching world, the mother of champions Jamie and Sir Andy Murray has found a new ball to keep her eye on – and it’s neither yellow nor fuzzy.
“About a year and a half ago, I took up golf,” says Judy cheerfully. “I’ve really enjoyed it.
“I’m not very good at it!” she hastens to add. “I want to get a bit better. But I feel so relaxed on the course. So my long-term goal is to play a lot more golf.”
It makes sense; golf ticks all the boxes you’d expect from a veteran tennis coach – fresh air, exercise, and a skill to be honed.
But for Judy, it’s the headspace it affords which has proven to be most valuable.
“I think often for most of us, our phones or our screens can be our biggest enemy. You’re constantly connected to somebody and constantly available,” she observes.
“So I leave my phone at home or in the car, and when I come back, my inbox may be full, but I feel so calm from being on the course that I don’t mind it as much.”
‘Suddenly we were being followed’
Indeed, the “relentlessness” of tennis tours – which can last 11 out of the 12 months of a year – and constant scrutiny of the public eye has meant Judy has had to learn how to manage her mental health more consciously over the years.
“It’s not an easy life, and it is actually exhausting,” Judy says candidly of her years of combining coaching and parenthood on the road with her sons.
“One of the toughest things to learn to deal with, without question, is being in the public eye.
“That week in 2005 when Andy went to Wimbledon was really a baptism of fire for all of us.
“Suddenly we had paparazzi outside the little flat that we were staying in, we were being followed and doorstepped. Nobody prepares you for that. But it’s part and parcel of being successful in sport.
“I’m definitely a grin and bear it person,” she adds. “But you know, you do realise you need time for yourself to clear your head, recharge and get back on it again.”
Mother to the ‘other Murray brother’
Yet despite insisting that “I know I need to slow down”, Judy is one busy lady.
Currently, she’s on her way to Courier Country with the wildly successful Duncan and Judy Murray Show, a live comedy show where the gormless, hapless “other Murray brother” Duncan Murray (comedian Chris Forbes) tries desperately to impress her, to little avail.
“Duncan is obviously stand up comedian Chris Forbes, who came up with the idea of the ‘other Murray brother’ – the third brother who was hopeless at everything,” explains Judy.
“And so the guts of the performance is him putting on a variety show to try to impress me. He does all the work, and I just really have to sit and look disappointed!”
Although live comedy is not something Judy ever expected to see herself doing, she admits she gets a “huge buzz” from being on stage and making people laugh – particularly as she knows her own reputation doesn’t always bring the word ‘funny’ to mind.
In fact, she admits even her son Andy begged her in the past to “not try and be funny”.
“He doesn’t think I’m funny, but I think I’m funny,” Judy chuckles. “People who used to only see me sitting in the box at Wimbledon could be forgiven for thinking that I don’t smile, and I’m quite serious and very competitive and all the rest of it.
“And I suppose that was kind of the persona that the media painted of me way back in the early days.
“But I think most people now realise I have got a sense of humour and I’m not above taking the mick out of myself!”
‘So many people believe it’s real’
And though she initially found it difficult to get into the persona of the stern, severe Judy Murray she plays on stage, she’s slipped naturally into the role over time – so much so that people believe ‘Duncan’ really is her son.
“If you look at [Chris], he’s not dissimilar to a mix of Andy and Jamie,” she observes. “And the voice that he’s adopted is quite like Andy’s; slow and little monotone. And that makes it, I think, quite authentic.
“One guy came up to us when we were at Cromlix [Andy’s hotel] and started talking to Chris as if he was Jamie!” she recalls. “He just went along with it, he didn’t want to burst the guy’s bubble.
“But there are so many people who believe that it’s real. And that worries me because I hope people don’t think I would be so cold to one of my children!”
Judy Murray’s tennis career came from ‘infrastructure of nothing’
As well as golf and comedy, Judy has been foraying into fiction, releasing her debut novel, The Wildcard, earlier this year.
She’s been working tirelessly for the past decade to increase community-level tennis services across the nation, including fighting to build her own tennis centre outside Dunblane, and The Wildcard sees some of those passions translated into the story.
It focuses particularly on “the haves and the have-nots”, which she acknowledges is still a problem in tennis.
“I was the Scottish number one for many, many years, and that came from an infrastructure of nothing,” explains Judy, an accomplished player in her own right.
“There was no indoor facilities. Nobody aspired to be a great player or a great coach because you couldn’t play all year round.
“So what I’ve been doing for the last eight years is going around the country, trying to show people how to get started in whatever space they have in their local area. Whether that’s the school playground or the artificial grass football pitch, you can put up cones and a bit of barrier tape, and begin.”
‘The world according to women is different’
Judy also wanted to use the novel to highlight the need for more women in the workforce when it comes to sport, particularly to combat instances of “abuse of power in the coach-athlete relationship”.
“I think that really came to light with the situation with the US gymnastics team and the team doctor,” she says.
“It wasn’t until many years later, after all the abuse that happened that they felt experienced and strong enough to speak out about it.
“But you know that there had been a cover up at the top.
“So you need female doctors and physios and fitness trainers and psychologists,” she continues.
“You need women there to understand the world according to women, because it’s different from the world according to men.”
Judy Murray: ‘I’m in the last third of my life’
Both the novel and the process of writing it have been, for Judy, about “knowing it’s never too late to follow your dreams”.
She admits that the 1996 Dunblane Primary School massacre, during which her sons Andy and Jamie were at the school, has motivated her to “make the most of life”, as it taught her that “you never know what’s around the corner”.
But ultimately, it’s been entering her golden years which has inspired her to look for new horizons beyond the net.
“I think I’m influenced by the fact that I am over 60 and I’m in what Jane Fonda calls the last third of my life,” Judy smiles.
“There are still things that I want to achieve. But also, it’s time for me now.
“I’ve given a lot of time to my sport, 35 years. And now it’s time for the next generation to step up and show some leadership skills.
“They can perhaps do some of the things that that I was doing.
“And maybe just leave me to my golf course!”
The Duncan and Judy Murray Show will be at Perth Concert Hall on October 14 2023.
