According to Wimbledon 2024 star Coco Gauff, British tennis superstar Andy Murray is a gender equality “icon” who has done so much to support women’s sport.
When a reporter at Wimbledon 2017 said that Sam Querrey was “the first US player to reach a major semi-final since 2009,” Murray publicly corrected the reporter.
The former world No. 1 player pointed out to the reporter that he was just discussing male athletes, with American women having significantly greater success in the sport because of stars like Venus and Serena Williams.
After her son corrected the reporter, Murray’s mother Judy said on social media, “That’s my boy.” Her son has defended and championed women’s sport on prior occasions, and American athlete Gauff was eager to praise the Briton.
After defeating Anca Todoni in the second round of the Wimbledon tournament on Wednesday, Gauff noted in her post-match news conference, “I just watched a video about him correcting reporters on statistics.”
The current US Open champion, who is seeded second at the Championships in the women’s singles and next faces British qualifier Sonay Kartal, added: ‘It’s something that as a female player, you’ll see a lot where people will be like ‘this guy was the first player to do this.’ And it’s like well, Serena and Venus did it…
‘Or another player did it ages ago. Or like the first American… and I’m like ‘I did it. Jess did it.’ I really appreciate him, not only him, also his mother for everything they’ve done for equality for women’s sports.
‘I think his legacy is that he’s just a fighter. The most inspiration I have for him is no matter what court he’s playing, whether it’s Centre Court here or an ITF, he’s putting 100 per cent effort into that.
‘It’s really unfortunate that he couldn’t get one last healthy match out here because he definitely deserves to end his career on his terms.
‘I hope the doubles go well with his brother. He’s an icon of the sport and he’s had an incredible career that a lot of people dream of.’
Back in 2014, Murray announced Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, and unfortunately she faced numerous sexist comments within professional tennis.
Marinko Matosevic, an Australian tennis player, called Murray ‘politically correct’ for hiring a female coach.
Murray defended his choice to collaborate with Mauresmo by asking, “Have I turned into a feminist? Yes, I guess I have, if being a feminist means working for women to be treated equally to men.