One day Andy Murray could swap the tennis courts for a football pitch as the former world No.1 ponders what to do beyond his career as a professional player.
Growing up Murray played both tennis and football. As a teenager, he had a trial to play for Rangers F.C, before opting to switch his focus towards tennis. His grandfather, Roy Erskine, was a former footballer who made 46 appearances in the Scottish football league. Murray could have followed in the footsteps of Erskine, but felt he was more ‘naturally gifted’ at tennis.
“After a lot of deliberation, I decided tennis was the sport I was more naturally gifted at and decided to move to Spain to pursue a career in that, which thankfully turned out to be the right decision.” The former Wimbledon champion told FIFA.com.
Still, Murray’s passion for football is high. Previously, he had hinted at the possibility of one day working in the sport. At the start of the year, he told The Times that he would be interested in exploring potential coaching opportunities if any arises. A statement he has repeated in his latest interview with the governing body of the sport.
“I have no idea [what to do in football] – I just find the sport really interesting,” he explained.
“I love reading, watching and talking about football, so, if I wanted to do something that wasn’t tennis that I thought I was passionate enough about, I’d maybe look at doing something in football.
“I’m a huge fantasy football fan, so I’d probably quite fancy myself as a manager – but it’s completely different doing it in real life, definitely not as easy as everyone thinks.”
Praise for Ronaldo and Zidane
Murray has also given his opinion about who he thinks is the best player and coach in football this season. His comments coincide with the upcoming Best FIFA Awards, which will take place in London on October 23rd. The 30-year-old has named Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo as his player of the year.
“He won La Liga and the Champions League, and scored a crazy amount of goals in both competitions to help his team get there,” Murray said about the Portuguese forward.
As for the best coach, Murray has picked former French international player Zinedine Zidane. Zidane has been the coach of Real Madrid since 2016, recently guiding the team to their 33rd La Liga title.
“It’s difficult to look past Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid: league winners, Champions League winners and also the first club to win the latter back-to-back.” Murray pointed out.
“That kind of performance doesn’t happen by accident and takes a special kind of manager to be able to motivate your players week in, week out to sustain that level of performance.”
For now Murray’s focus remains on tennis. He is currently sidelined from the tour due to a hip injury with no return date currently set.
