Andy Murray opens up about Dunblane shooting and parents' divorce in new documentary
What's the story?
In his documentary 'Andy Murray: Resurfacing", Andy Murray is seen discussing various topics surrounding tennis and his personal life. Most notably, the Scottish player talked about some of the difficult periods of his childhood, including the Dunblane shooting and his parents' divorce
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Murray recently returned to the ATP tour after going through multiple hip surgeries to fix a nearly career-ending injury that he picked up in 2016 after finishing the year at World No. 1.
The Scot won a title - his first since 2017 - in Antwerp, beating Stan Wawrinka in the final. However, he is still ranked outside the top 100 due to the large period of time he spent on the sidelines in 2019.
Before he became a tennis player though, Murray had a harrowing experience in his school at Dunblane where 18 people were shot dead in a mass shooting.
The heart of the matter
In a very honest take, Murray discussed some of the sad moments of his childhood.
"I had the thing that happened in Dunblane. That was when I was around nine. I’m sure for all the kids there it would have been difficult for different reasons, but we knew the guy, we went to his kids’ club, he’d been in our car and we’d driven him and dropped him off at train stations and things," Murray said.
The aftermath of the incident was quite difficult for the Murray household too, and that affected both Andy and his brother Jamie.
"And within 12 months of that happening, our parents got divorced. I think that’s a difficult time for kids, to see that and not quite understand what’s going on. Then, six to 12 months after that, my brother moved away from home. He went to train to play tennis. We used to do everything together, so when he moved away that was also quite hard for me," Murray said.
Murray then discussed how those issues affected his tennis.
"Around that time, and after that for a year or so, I had lots of anxiety. That came out when I was playing tennis. A few times when I was competing I would get really bad breathing problems.
"My feeling towards tennis is that it’s an escape for me in some ways because all of these things are bottled up. We don’t talk about these things."
Murray also talked about how his early life experiences have shaped his on-court demeanor, which has been the subject of criticism for a long time.
"The way that I am on the tennis court, I show some positive things about my personality and I also show the bad things, the stuff that I hate. But I feel like tennis allows me to be that child that has all of these questions. That’s why tennis is important to me," he said.
What's next?
Murray has put all of those tragedies behind him, and now intends to try and make a full comeback to the tour. He will compete at the upcoming Australian Open with a protected ranking, in the hope that his restructured hip holds up to the demands of five-set tennis.