(Reuters) -Wimbledon will soon feature a permanent tribute to one of Britain’s sporting greats, as the All England Club announced plans to honour Andy Murray with a statue at the iconic tennis venue. The 38-year-old retired in August after an appearance at the Paris Olympics and will get his own statue after ending Britain’s 77-year […]
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Tennis-Murray to be immortalised with statue at Wimbledon
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(Reuters) -Wimbledon will soon feature a permanent tribute to one of Britain’s sporting greats, as the All England Club announced plans to honour Andy Murray with a statue at the iconic tennis venue.
The 38-year-old retired in August after an appearance at the Paris Olympics and will get his own statue after ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a home men’s singles champion in 2013 when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final.
Murray won Wimbledon again in 2016 and was knighted the next year for his services to tennis and charity.
A popular player on and off the court, Murray reached world number one and claimed three Grand Slam singles titles during his career despite competing in an era dominated by greats such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic.
“We are looking to have a statue of Andy Murray here (at Wimbledon) and we’re working closely with him and his team,” chair of the All England Club Debbie Jevans told the Ainslie + Ainslie Performance People podcast published on Tuesday.
“The ambition is that we would unveil that at the 150th anniversary of our first championship, which was 1877. He’s got to rightly be very involved in that and he and his team will be.”
The new statue would stand alongside that of Fred Perry, who was Britain’s last men’s singles champion until Murray’s victory.
Perry’s bronze statue was unveiled in 1984, commemorating the 50th anniversary of his first singles triumph.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk)