Inside Andy Murray and wife Kim Sears' marriage
Inside Andy Murray and Kim Sears’ marriage! Couple met aged 17 before tying the knot 10 YEARS later (and she’s still his number one fan who cheers him on from the stands)
- Murray can count on the support of his wife Kim Sears as he takes on Wimbledon
- READ MORE: Andy Murray spots his four children in the crowd on Father’s Day
Through thick and thin, Andy Murray has always been able to count on the support of his wife Kim Sears.
The pair began dating in 2005 when she was 17 and he was 18 and are now happily married with four children: Sophia, seven, Edie, five, Teddie, three, and a two-year-old thought to be called Lola.
Kim can often be spotted in the stands while her partner of 15 years battles it out on the court, and sometimes is accompanied by their children.
As such, she will likely support him once again as the former world No 1, three-time Grand Slam champion, double Olympic gold medallist, Davis Cup winner and two-time Wimbledon champion returns to SW19.
Here Femail looks at the love story between the tennis ace and his number one fan.
After the pair met in 2005, Kim became a regular fixture by the court, cheering Andy on. Pictured with Judy Murray during Wimbledon in 2008
MEETING IN 2005 AT THE US OPEN
Sussex-born Miss Sears, who has an English Literature degree, met Murray at the US Open in 2005. Her father is player-turned-coach Nigel Sears.
Their meeting came long before he acquired fame and fortune. She was only 17 at the time and Andy was her first serious boyfriend.
Murray wooed her with phone calls and flowers. But she did not allow their burgeoning romance to affect her schoolwork, and she achieved straight As in her exams.
The couple managed to keep their relationship quiet – until Murray won his first tournament in California in 2006 and ran through the crowd to give his girlfriend a kiss.
Kim, who was 18 at the time and still studying at school, said that she asked her mother to call in sick for her, but pictures of them were splashed over all the papers.
Andy said of his then girlfriend: ‘I’m lucky. I know she isn’t with me because I’m in the spotlight.’
The couple briefly split for six months in 2009 but they now share a multi-million pound mansion in Oxshott, Surrey with their dogs Maggie and Rusty.
In 2013, after being together for eight years, Andy revealed in his book Eventually, Andy Murray: Seventy-Seven: My Road to Wimbledon Glory, that he could see himself starting a family with his then long-term girlfriend.
He said: ‘I can see myself having a family one day. It is something that I’m starting to think about because Kim and I have been together for eight years.’
In his book reflecting on his life and career so far, the Wimbledon champion is effusive about his girlfriend, who he first met at the US Open in 2005.
Writing in the book he said: ‘You’re in these huge cities meeting new people all the time and it would be easy to get your head turned. But Kim’s always been there for me.
‘She really cares about me and helps with so many things. She always has. That’s why we have such a great relationship.’
The Wimbledon winner admitted the experience of looking after their two dogs – Border terriers Maggie May and Rusty – would stand them in good stead if he and Miss Sears were to start a family.
He said: ‘It’s not the same as having kids – or at least I don’t think it is – but that’s sometimes what it feels like.’
As well as bonding over their love of dogs, he said they also share a passion for travel and don’t get homesick.
Murray also praised Miss Sears’s ability to gauge when he needs company and when he wants to be alone as ‘fundamental’ to their relationship.
He said: ‘Kim sees all of the emotions when I win or lose a match, she can tell how I’m really feeling.’
ENGAGEMENT IN 2014
In 2013, Kim was Andy’s date at the Wimbledon Championships 2013 Winners Ball, where they both held the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy
Kim was Andy’s date when he received an OBE from the then Duke of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace in 2013
Andy would often run to Kim for a victory kiss at the height of his career. Pictured in 2013 during his Wimbledon run
The pair got engaged in 2014 after nine years of dating and having denied being engaged several times prior.
In the past Murray had been notoriously reluctant to answer questions about his relationship with Sears but in early 2014, he was forced to deny that he planned to marry her after joking about his love life on Twitter.
Asked when he planned to marry Miss Sears during a Twitter Q&A with fans in January of that year, Murray responded: ‘We’re getting married just after Wimbledon, should be a great day.’
But just hours later, Murray was forced to issue another tweet explaining that his words were said with his tongue firmly in cheek after the original message went viral.
He tweeted: ‘3 things.. I don’t smoke grass, I’m not getting married(yet) and I don’t want to kill Rafael Nadal.. [sic]’
At the time of their engagement, Andy and Kim shared no detail of the proposal or their wedding plans.
However, after the engagement was made public, it was suggested that Kim’s impressive ring, which Andy picked by himself, was worth a whopping £200,000.
At the time, experts said Murray, who had an estimated fortune of £30million and earned £11.5million in 2014 alone, had picked out a ‘perfect statement ring’ for Miss Sears.
During their engagement, Kim landed herself in the hot seat in 2015 after she appeared to launch a furious tirade at his opponent during his Australian Open semi-final victory that year.
In one of several heated moments during the clash, Kim appeared to hurl a string of expletives towards Czech player Tomas Berdych.
As tensions boiled over, the devoted supporter was caught on camera appearing to mouth ‘F*****g have that, you Czech flash f***’, or ‘Take that, you flash f**k’.
Speaking after the game, Murray said the seemingly uncharacteristic episode was down to ‘a lot of tension’ whipped up before the match.
He told reporters: ‘When there’s a lot of tension surrounding something which you (the media) created, which you created, then it’s completely normal.
‘The whole first set, everyone was tight. My physical trainer, physio, I’m sure for Dani it was uncomfortable.
‘Even Tomas, who very rarely says anything on the court, there was tension there for him, as well. Yeah, in the heat of the moment you can say stuff that you regret. And, yeah, that’s it.’
WEDDING IN 2015
The pair tied the knot in 2015 at Dunblane Cathedral in what was dubbed the Scottish wedding of the year at time
The happy couple tied the knot in front of their family and friends in 2015, and welcomed their first child a year later
The couple’s wedding was dubbed the Scottish wedding of the year as they tied the knot at Dunblane Cathedral.
The new Mr and Mrs Murray got wed in the 12th century cathedral before a relatively small group of their family members and close friends.
At the end of the ceremony, bells rung out and the wedding guests showered the newlyweds with confetti as they left the 45-minute ceremony in the cathedral in the tennis star’s hometown.
The pair went on to celebrate with a reception at nearby Cromlix House, the £1.8million luxury country house hotel which Andy owns.
Kim’s stunning dress, rumoured to be by Jenny Packham, had elbow-length sleeves and the bride was wearing her hair swept back from her face in a half-up and half-down do. Kim’s tousled brunette locks were also pinned with a long, lace veil.
On her feet, a pair of strappy silver heels, thought to be by Jimmy Choo. The bride had four bridesmaids, all dressed in pink.
Mother-of-the-groom Judy Murray arrived just before the ceremony looking resplendent in a white, to-the-knee overcoat with a detailed gold dress. The outfit was topped off with a dramatic gold hat by milliner William Chambers.
Reverend Colin Renwick led the service, which lasted 45 minutes. Hundreds of tennis fans had lined the streets on the day in the hopes of spotting the happy couple on their big day.
Hundreds of the world’s media were also in place to capture the event which sparked interest around the globe.
Ahead of his nuptials, Murray told the BBC Sport: ‘I am actually not nervous about getting married because we’ve been together like nine-and-a-half years and we’ve lived together for six or seven years as well.
‘So, I don’t think a whole lot’s going to change. I kind of feel like we have been married already in terms of the way we spend our lives together and live together.
‘I think I will be more nervous about starting a family because that would be more life-changing, in a good way.’
TESTED BY A HIP INJURY
Kim and Andy pictured attending the ‘Andy Murray: Resurfacing’ world premiere in 2019 in London
The couple’s relationship suffered as Andy admitted in 2019 he was ‘selfish’, but they survived the ordeal. Pictured at Cheltenham 2019
A winning duo, the pair, pictured at Cheltenham in 2019, have remained together through thick and thin
Andy admitted in 2019 that he had been ‘quite selfish’ after suffering a hip injury that threatened to end his tennis career and put a strain on his marriage.
The 36-year-old said his chronic hip pain left him feeling ‘down’ and affected his relationship with wife Kim after he was forced to take a break from the sport.
Triple Grand Slam winner Murray admitted he had neglected to think about the feelings of those close to him during his lengthy lay-off. But he insisted his wife Kim had been ‘brilliant’ throughout the ordeal, encouraging him to return to the sport.
Murray returned to the game after undergoing a hip resurfacing operation in 2019 and following the birth of their third child, a boy called Teddy, a month prior.
An Amazon documentary on his comeback released that year showed the impact the injury had on his family life.
Murray said: ‘I was pretty down, that’s for sure. It was a really tough period for me because it wasn’t so much the actual injury itself.
‘Being injured can be frustrating, but the issue that I had was with me every single day, sleeping and walking. It wasn’t just I hit a serve and my arm hurt. This woke me up in the night. It was bad.
‘I don’t know if the children noticed because when I’m with them I’m always trying to put on a brave face, but my wife definitely. It put a lot of strain on our relationship, just because I was down all the time.’
He added: ‘She has been brilliant and I would probably be quite selfish, just in terms of thinking about myself and how I’m feeling all the time and not actually realising the impact that has on all the people around me.’
Murray said that despite the encouraging words he had from family and friends, it had been hard to keep going.
‘I was, like, ‘You don’t know what it’s like. You don’t know what it is that I’m feeling.’
‘I probably didn’t take into consideration what that was doing to everyone around me. I see a little of this in the documentary. Some bits of it are quite hard for me to watch.
‘It had an impact on the team, and my physio’s family as well. He’ll be disappointed and sad each time he goes home that he’s not been able to fix my hip, that I’m still in pain or I’ve had a rough day.’
THEIR HAPPY FAMILY
All smiles: The pair (pictured) share four children together, Sophia, seven, Edie, five, Teddie, three, and a two-year-old thought to be called Lola
Kim with the couple’s youngest daughter, thought to be called Lola, during Nottingham Open in June
The pair share four children together, Sophia, seven, Edie, five, Teddie, three, and a two-year-old thought to be called Lola.
Their fourth child was born in lockdown in March 2021 and the couple have never announced the baby’s name or gender.
The Murrays didn’t confirm their previous pregnancy until a week before Kim was due, after she sparked speculation she was expecting when she arrived at Wimbledon in 2019 wearing a maternity-style polka dot top while supporting her husband in the mixed doubles.
In April, he posted a drawing by Edie after the pair had a coaching session together, where she hilariously wrote: ‘I don’t want to play anymore… you stand too close to me.’
Murray captioned the picture: ‘My first venture into the coaching world has ended in disgrace,’ with a crying emoji.
The family went on a family holiday to Marbella in April, where he shared a snap of him lifting Teddie above his head.
Speaking to This Morning’s Alison Hammond in 2021, the tennis star said his proudest achievement is getting all four children to bed on time. He also revealed that his eldest daughter, Sophia, plays tennis once a week.
Last Father’s Day, the tennis star got a surprise from his family as he spotted his four children and Kim waving at him from the stands as he won the Nottingham Open.
The former world number one beat Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-4 6-4 in the final to make it 10 wins in a row, and lift the Rothesay Nottingham Open.
During his post match on-court interview, he was clearly none the wiser that any of his children were there in person, saying: ‘Hopefully I’ll get back home tonight, see my kids for Father’s Day.
‘Hopefully I’ll get in before their bed time, get a rest day in tomorrow, get pumped for Queens.’
It was at that point he heard cheering in the stands, looked up and saw his supportive family all gathered, with wife Kim, wearing black cat-eye sunglasses, smiling back at him and holding the couple’s youngest child.
Genuinely shocked, Murray, 36, counted his children, saying ‘they’re all here’ and admitted he had ‘no idea’ they were coming to watch.
He said: ‘Oh my god, I didn’t know they were here. I had no idea they were coming.’
He added: ‘They came last week for the final at Surbiton, they turned up and it started raining, so then they had to go home for the kids’ bedtime.
‘They missed the end of the match, so it’s great that they managed to come today. I don’t know how many of them are here – they’re all here – thanks guys.’
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