The Scottish Tennis ace opened up on being forced to attend the traditional champion’s dinner after Wimbledon win.
Andy Murray (left) with his winner’s trophy next to runner up Serbia’s Novak Djokovic following the Men’s Final of Wimbledon 2013.
Tennis superstar Andy Murray has branded one of the world’s most prestigious sports ceremonies “s***e”.
The 38-year-old former world No1 has revealed he once even stopped at McDonald’s wearing his tuxedo on the way to the glitzy Wimbledon Champion’s Dinner.
The blunt-speaking Scot’s mum Judy explained that her son was exhausted after the gruelling match followed by hours of press interviews.
Andy lifted the men’s golden trophy on Wimbledon’s Centre Court first time in 2013, beating all-time great Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Judy said that afterwards “the players’ restaurant was closed so there wasn’t any food available, not just for Andy but for anyone. He was starving”.
Speaking during Centre Stage, a series of stage shows in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in which he shares candid anecdotes about his career, Andy said he wanted to celebrate his first Wimbledon victory with friends and family.
Instead he was forced to attend the traditional champion’s dinner at London’s InterContinental Park Lane hotel, 90 minutes from the All England Club.
Arriving at 11.30pm, he described how he wasn’t able to even sit with his mum, dad or now wife Kim Sears, and joked, “Yeah, it was s***e”.
He had previously said he was unable to remember any of the 2013 match afterwards and felt only a sense of “relief” at having won, rather than a sense of achievement.
Andy Murray with his girlfriend Kim Sears during the Champions’ Dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel, London in 2013
The sporting legend told the 3000 fans in the audience that he celebrated his 2016 Wimbledon victory, which he won by beating Canadian Milos Raonic in straight sets after two hours and 47 minutes, very differently.
Of that win, his last at a Grand Slam, he told the crowd that he stopped at a McDonald’s on the way to the Champions’ Dinner while wearing his tuxedo.
Mum Judy laughed as she recalled how the drive-through staff couldn’t believe their eyes when Andy picked up his order in his evening attire, and said: “They were asking, ‘Is that Andy Murray? No, it can’t be.’”
Andy said he ended the evening in a nightclub and “had an accident” in the taxi on the way home.
The dad of four ends his tour next Sunday at the New Wimbledon Theatre on the eve of the tournament.