Wimbledon to Honour Andy Murray on 150th Anniversary
- Editor OGN Daily
- 43 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Sir Andy Murray says he feels "very proud" after the All England Club confirmed it will recognise his contribution to tennis with a statue of him at Wimbledon.
Murray ended Britain's 77-year wait for a men's singles champion at Wimbledon with a memorable victory over Novak Djokovic in 2013, and triumphed again at SW19 in 2016 when he beat Milos Raonic.
Former Wimbledon chief executive Richard Lewis told BBC Sport in 2019 the club would honour Murray with a statue when he finished playing, and now the club has confirmed that it will make good on that promise and will erect a statue by 2027. Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Club, says: "The ambition is that we would unveil that at the 150th anniversary of our first championship, which was 1877. He's got to rightly be very involved in that and he and his team will be."
A bronze statue of Fred Perry, the last British men's champion before Murray, was erected at Wimbledon in 1984 to mark the 50th anniversary of his first singles championship.
Murray told BBC Sport: "I'm very proud, there's not many statues around the grounds there, and I always remember seeing the Fred Perry statue when I've walked around the grounds and gone to train and practise there over the years. It will be very special."
The statue will be the second of the three-time grand slam champion after a curious "terracotta warrior" rendering of the Scot was unveiled in Shanghai in 2011, reports The Telegraph.
Perhaps alluding to the Shanghai statue, Murray told BBC Sport: "I would expect that with Wimbledon and their attention to detail that it will be great. I'm very proud, there's not many statues around the grounds there, and I always remember seeing the Fred Perry statue when I've walked around the grounds and gone to train and practise there over the years. It will be very special."