Andy Murray has ruled out an imminent return to coaching because he is loving being a full-time dad – and losing at chess with his five-year-old son. The former world No.1 returned to the grass for the first time since his Wimbledon farewell last summer for the official naming of the Andy Murray Arena at Queen’s Club.
But the Scot, 38, is in no rush to get back to work after his first coaching role with Novak Djokovic ended last month. “I think I would do it again at some stage – I don’t think that will happen immediately,” Murray told the BBC in a sit-down interview with Clare Balding.
“I wasn’t planning on going into coaching as soon as I finished playing but it was obviously a pretty unique opportunity. It was a chance to learn from one of the best athletes of all time. The results weren’t as we wanted but I gave it a go. We will see about coaching in the future but I don’t think that is going to happen for a while.”
Murray admitted he had been “worried” about retiring but stated: “It has been brilliant”. The father-of-four added: “Right now I am just at home with my family being a dad. Immediately, my main priority is to give my kids a good upbringing and to be around for them. Be with my wife and support her.
“My five-year-old boy (Teddy) has got massively into chess which I am really enjoying playing with him. I am not a particularly good chess player but I have got quite an analytical mind and I enjoy the game and watching him learn and playing with him.
“It is difficult losing to a five-year-old when in the middle of the game, he is asking you to come and wipe his bum essentially. He is going to the toilet in the middle of the game and then he comes back and is beating me at chess. It is humbling for my intelligence.”
Murray believes that tennis is in “a good place” despite the retirements of himself, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, having witnessed a historic French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
“They’re both brilliant athletes and very different personalities, which I think for fans is really exciting,” Murray added. “For me, particularly Alcaraz has an exciting brand of tennis to watch, and they complement each other well. They’ve already had some brilliant matches and from what I’ve been told, it was one of the best finals for a long time.”
“Moving forward, men’s tennis is in a great place. People always worry at the end of a generation of players what’s going to happen with the sport next, but generally sports continue to evolve and, in most cases, improve.
“Jack [Draper]’s right in the mix just now and doing extremely well. He’s going to give himself opportunities to win majors over the next five, 10 years.”
He added to BBC Scotland: “My daughters (Sophia, Edie and Lola) play a bit of netball and hockey and cricket. None of them are massively into their tennis. And being there for school pickups, father’s day celebrations and sports days.
“One of them had a piano recital the other day – it is being around for those things. Sometimes when I was playing, I didn’t think about how important they were but you notice, when you go there and you see how happy they are that you have turned up to support them and be there at those moments, it is really nice.”