Sir Andy Murray due to be honoured with a statue of him at Wimbledon
He brought the nation’s long wait for a champion to an end when he took the Wimbledon title in 2013.
And now, Sir Andy Murray is to get the ultimate honour with a statue at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the tournament’s chief has revealed.
Debbie Jevans, said that the British tennis legend will be involved in designing the sculpture, which will be revealed in 2027 during the championship’s 150-anniversary.
Sir Andy, who grew up in Dunblane, Perthshire, won the men’s singles in 2013 and 2016, becoming the first British man to win the title in 77 years.
Chairperson Mrs Jevans revealed that the tournament wanted to honour Sir Andy in a similar way to Spanish great Rafael Nadal, who had a plaque unveiled in Paris this year to celebrate his 14 French Open titles.
Speaking to the Performance People podcast, Mrs Jevans said: ‘We looked at Rafa Nadal having that sort of plaque unveiled to him at Roland Garros which was all very special.
‘We thought, what do we want for Andy?
‘We had a great celebration for Andy when he played his last match, which was on Centre Court.
Sir Andy Murray raises the winner's trophy after beating Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships
Sir Andy Murray poses with his men's singles trophy next to the Wimbledon statue of Fred Perry
There are already some statues of Sir Andy elsewhere in the world - such as this version of him as a terra cotta warrior, which was unveiled during the Shanghai Rolex Masters in 2011
‘And then when he came, when all the old players came and they greeted him and Sue Barker interviewed him.
‘So we did a similar thing for him here last year but we are looking to have a statue of Andy Murray here and we’re working closely with him and his team.
‘And the ambition is that we would unveil that on the 150th anniversary of our first championships, which was 1877, so would be in 2027.
‘It will be lovely and really special. So he’s got to rightly be very involved in that and him and his team will be.’
Fred Perry, the last British man to win the title before Sir Andy, is the only player to have a full-body statue at Wimbledon.
There is also a sculpture called Serving Ace Meeting Tree and five head-and-shoulder statues of the British female champions - Kitty Godfree, Dorothy Round, Angela Mortimer, Ann Jones, and Virginia Wade.
Sir Andy, who has four children with his wife Kim Sears, retired from tennis after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Outside of Wimbledon he won the 2012 US Open and Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016, the only man to win the singles’ title twice.
He also spent 41 weeks as the world number one.
Wimbledon begins on June 30.
