Once a sports coach, always a sports coach who focuses on mistakes and pushes everyone to improve their game. When Judy Murray’s long-suffering Strictly partner Anton Du Beke wrote his first novel, he sent her a first proof.
She devoured it, but (typically Judy Murray) sent back some parts and offered corrections.
“Not the whole book,” she clarifies. “I just took a screenshot of some pages and pointed out any typos. I’m a bit of a stickler for grammar and spelling.’
Poor (or happier?) Anton. When they were paired on Strictly in 2014 – the first time Judy really ventured outside of the tennis world – he had a lot of work ahead of him.
Judy has to be considered one of the worst Strictly contestants of all time. Craig Revel Horwood accused her of having rigor mortis on the dance floor, while Bruno Tonioli said she was “stiffer than Nelson’s column”.
Judy Murray, 63, has written her first book, The Wild Card, about a sexual relationship between a young tennis star and her older coach
Judy became the full-time coach of her sons Andy and Jamie in 1994. In 2011 she became captain of the British Fed Cup team (the most important international team competition in women’s tennis). She appeared on the 2014 reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing with her dance partner Anton Du Beke, who she says encouraged her to write The Wild Card
Even though it’s been almost ten years, she still says Strictly changed her life (if not her Quickstep). It not only introduced her to life outside of tennis, but also changed the public perception of her; She has gone from being a slightly grumpy tennis mom to someone who could actually be fun. “I think it gave me confidence as well,” she says.
It’s been quite a decade for Judy, now 63, who is actually really funny and vivacious. She tells me that her “jog of life” came just before Strictly.
“When I was 52, I read this article about how a woman at age 52 reaches her highest self-confidence. For me that was true.” At that point I had just been promoted to captain the British women’s team. People started to see me as a coach and not just a tennis mom.’
This job also made her braver. “The older I get, the more… well, the more insight you get,” she says.
At 16, you’re dealing with adults gambling for their mortgages
“I no longer hang out with people I don’t want to hang out with.” I won’t take on things I don’t want to do. I say “no” to a lot more things now because it’s my life and I don’t have that much left of it. I’m in what Jane Fonda calls the third act. “I’ll make the most of the time I have left.”
Which brings us to a fairly late reinvention. Judy is now a novelist and her first novel, The Wild Card, is out today. Anton, who has written five bestselling novels, is apparently to blame for this. His first films were set in the world of ballroom dancing.
“He said to me: ‘You should do that, but with tennis.’ I loved Anton’s books and they had an authenticity that came from knowing this world so well. I love reading anyway and it’s grown from there.”
Obviously, when Judy Murray expresses interest in writing books about the world of tennis, publishers take notice (and she already had an autobiography on the books). She now has a two-book deal and a whole team behind her.
Judy with her sons, tennis champions Jamie, 37, (right) and Andy, 36, at the premiere of “Andy Murray: Resurfacing” in November 2019. Judy began coaching them when they were teenagers
“You have experts to help you negotiate the parts you don’t understand,” says Judy. A veteran author, who had previously helped write her autobiography, was part of that team “as an extra pair of eyes and ears.”
Their early designs were considered too technical: “They said certain sections were too ‘tennis-y’. I laid out all the details and thought, “People are going to be interested in the ins and outs of this game,” when in fact most people don’t even know or care what a slice backhand is.”
Firmly placed in the category of commercial women’s fiction, the novel tells the story of Abigail Patterson, a former tennis star who has stopped playing at the highest level for obvious reasons. However, at 37, she staged the “comeback that ends all comebacks” and ended up in Wimbledon.
The focus is on a disturbing relationship between the young star player and her older male coach, which culminates in sexual traits.
Did Judy really write a novel about grooming, about how entire careers and lives can be ruined when the relationship between player and coach is twisted? Yes she has.
She says the storyline, while entirely fictional, was inspired by the six years she spent as one of the few female coaches in international women’s tennis.
“Even the women’s coaches are very male-dominated,” she says. “For the men, I wasn’t surprised where practically all the coaches are men, but I was surprised that there weren’t more female coaches for the women.”
The alarm bells have been ringing for some time.
Judy pictured with her sons Jamie and Andy when they were kids. Judy began her training as a tennis coach at a very early age, at the age of 19
The general public was appalled by the US gymnastics scandal when it was proven in court that hundreds of young athletes, many of them underage at the time, had been sexually abused by a predatory doctor.
And last year, a scathing report also found that British Gymnastics has enabled a culture where young gymnasts have been physically shamed and abused in the pursuit of medals, with teenage swimmers also voicing similar concerns.
Is tennis next for a MeToo moment? “We first saw MeToo in the entertainment world, but I’m sure there are women in every industry who have faced the same issues.” . There have been a few instances of tennis players speaking up lately, but only after they’ve retired or when they’ve matured enough to speak up.”
There is this dependency. Girls are afraid of losing the coach because if the coach leaves, the dream is lost too
Judy has seen a preview of a drama series called Fifteen-Love coming out this summer.
“It’s the story of a seasoned predator tennis coach,” she says. “It’s fiction but it’s remarkably true to life.” It will certainly provide food for debate and if it makes governing bodies realize that coaches need better scrutiny and that there needs to be safeguards in place, then that’s a positive thing.
“Also, if it helps girls and young women to speak up, it’s a good thing because it’s not easy or convenient.”
Have there been inappropriate (or at least unwise) relationships between players and coaches? Of course they exist. Former champion Pam Shriver recently shared her story publicly. She was 17 when she began an affair with the late Don Candy, who had coached her since she was nine.
He was 59 and married when their relationship turned sexual. Although it was entirely consensual, she claims it was abusive.
Judy appeared on the reality TV shows Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and Celebrity MasterChef in 2020. While her performance on Strictly was far from the best ever, she credits the experience with giving her more confidence
“I think abusive coaching relationships are alarmingly common throughout sport,” Pam said last year.
“I’ve witnessed dozens of incidents in my nearly four decades as a player and commentator. “Every time I hear about a player dating their coach or see a male physical therapist working on a female body in the gym, alarm bells go off in my head.”
This is Judy’s world too. “It’s a very difficult area because in this world the coach is king.” In my novel, Abi sees the coach as the key to her dream, and there’s that element of dependency. Girls are scared of losing the coach because if the coach goes then the dream goes too.”
Back in the real world, this is a recipe for disaster, if not scandal.
“You talk about very young women who travel away from home for up to ten and a half months a year. Who do you contact if you have a problem? With whom do you talk confidentially, especially about things that we as women do not necessarily want to share with much older men – about the pill, about menstrual cycles, physical problems, sexual, financial problems?
“By the time I left that role in 2016, the women’s tour had brought along a couple of ‘lifestyle managers’, experienced women that players could turn to with confidence.”
It’s a very necessary thing, she says. “As a young person, if you don’t have the luxury of having parents traveling with you, you’re on your own.”
In this context, Judy’s experience of supporting her sons throughout their athletic careers takes on a slightly different meaning. Is she happy that instead of daughters she had sons who found their way around the international tennis circuit? She thinks for a while.
Judy and Andy in 2004 when 17-year-old Andy was already on the UK Davis Cup team and was ranked 4th in the UK
“If I had had a daughter, I would have done the same.” I would have gone with her. At the age they get into adult sports — 16, 17, 18 — it’s a minefield.
“All of a sudden, young people are faced with adults playing for their mortgages, their children, their cars and their flights to the next tournament. It’s much more dog versus dog and only the toughest survive.”
There is a growing awareness of how brutal the tennis world can be. “So there are more and more parents who travel with their children – but only those who can afford it financially enjoy this luxury.”
A minefield indeed. I also wonder if Judy, if she had been a mother of girls, would have been portrayed differently in the media – as a protective mother rather than an aggressive mother pushing her boys to win.
If I had been a man, I would have been praised and applauded
This is complicated because of her background (she received her training as a tennis coach at a very young age, at the age of 19). But she is sure that she would have been treated differently.
“If I had been a father to sons or a mother to daughters, I probably wouldn’t have been dismembered the way I was.” I was an anomaly. I bared my teeth or clenched my fists in every picture that appeared of me.
“I was portrayed as a tiger mom, a nightmare parent. But I should never have felt like I had to apologize for being there for my kids or for being competitive. If I had been a man, I would have been praised and applauded for it.”
She may have found fame as a mother, but in recent years she has risen to prominence as an activist for women in sports. I use the word activist; she doesn’t.
Judy and Andy pictured at the 2008 Wimbledon tennis championships. Andy won the men’s competition in 2013 and then again in 2016
“I don’t consider myself an activist.” I say I’m a womanist.’ Not feminist? “Feminist sounds a bit aggressive,” she says.
While understandably cautious when it comes to discussing the issue of trans women in sport, she recently said, “I think we have to be very careful.” There’s a reason why categories were created in sport: to make it fair and safe to create competition.
“When there’s a clear, unfair physical advantage, it’s going to be incredibly tough for women’s sport – and women’s sport is in the best position it’s ever been.”
“It will be up to the individual governing bodies to decide how they want to proceed.” “For me, the most important thing is that everyone can play safely and fairly.”
Judy could have been a tennis star herself. She tells me her biggest regret in her life was turning down a tennis scholarship in the United States when she was 17.
“It was a completely different world. America was so far from Scotland. Athletic scholarships were not that common. I just didn’t have the courage to do it. “I’m not really someone who regrets it – I’ve had a great life – but it’s the only thing that makes me wonder.”
Andy and Judy pictured during the Wimbledon Championships Winners Ball in 2013 – the year Andy first became Gentlemen’s Singles Champion
What’s next for her? She still hopes to open the tennis academy she has been planning for years in her hometown of Dunblane, Scotland. Scheduled to open in 2025, it will be “a stationary legacy.”
What about her private life? She now has five grandchildren. Is she a very different grandmother than the kind of mother she was?
“I’m a very active grandmother,” she says, suggesting she’s probably draining the little ones.
Does she let them play all sports or just tennis?
“All sports,” she says. “I’ve also offered to teach them how to dance, but no one has approached me about it yet.”
- The Judy Murray Wild Card (£14.99, Orion) is available today.