Wimbledon to honour two-time champion Sir Andy Murray with statue
By PA Sport Staff
Wimbledon plan to honour Sir Andy Murray with a statue at the All England Club.
Murray, the Wimbledon men’s singles champion in 2013 and 2016, retired last year and will be involved in designing the sculpture.
Wimbledon hope the statue will be revealed in 2027 during the championship’s 150th anniversary.
“We are looking to have a statue of Andy Murray here (Wimbledon) and we’re working closely with him and his team,” All England club chair Debbie Jevans told the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast.
“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 him and his team will be.”
Tennis greats John McEnroe and Billie Jean King are among those that have previously called for Murray to be honoured with a statue at Wimbledon.
The Scot ended a 77-year wait for a British man to be crowned Wimbledon singles champion and retired after the Paris Olympics last August.
Jevans said: “We had a great celebration for Andy when he played his last (Wimbledon) match, which was on Centre Court.
“All the old players came and they greeted him and Sue Barker interviewed him.
“We looked at Rafa Nadal having that sort of plaque unveiled to him at Roland Garros which was all very special. But we thought, what do we want for Andy?”
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.