Though best known as the mother of Grand Slam champions and former World No.1 players Andy and Jamie Murray, who thrived in men’s tennis, Judy Murray is also excited by what she sees in the women’s game.
Murray has cemented herself as an integral part of the tennis community through her coaching expertise and continuous efforts to grow the sport, currently serving as a WTA Community Ambassador and taking the sport into underserved areas.
PODCAST: Judy Murray on The Sit-Down
Appearing on this week’s episode of The Sit-Down podcast, Murray shared her enthusiasm for what was unfolding in women’s tennis, pointing to generational stars like Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and a resurgent Naomi Osaka as those helping to build awareness of the sport.
That quartet has combined to win 16 major titles while amassing millions of social media followers.
“There are players coming through now who look like they will go on to dominate for a number of years and win an awful lot of the major tournaments,” said Murray, Great Britain’s former Fed Cup captain.
“You need players at the top of the game who are winning consistently because then they become recognisable.
“We had that in women’s tennis for so many years, more recently with Serena, Venus, Maria Sharapova, who were not just multiple major winners, but they were major brand ambassadors for huge companies. They were globally recognised by people, whether they were interested in tennis or not.
“I think it’s starting to happen again now, with Sabalenka, Swiatek [and] Osaka.”
Similarly, Emma Raducanu is a major champion and global brand ambassador leading a British women’s cohort – also featuring Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal, Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones – for whom Murray shared similar enthusiasm.
“There’s certainly more [numbers at the top] than we used to have. There’s a lot more to get excited about,” she observed.
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“I think that when you have a few of them operating at the top of the game, in the top 50 or 60 in the world, it starts to give a lot of belief to all those who are coming up behind them.”
Murray, a former Scottish national coach, said this situation differed to her memory of Andy’s first Australian Open appearance in 2006, when he and Tim Henman were the only players representing Great Britain in either the men’s or women’s singles draws.
“There’s a much bigger British presence around the major events and that can only be a good thing, you know, because success breeds success,’ she explained.
“There are numbers now and that’s a great thing.
“I think it’s in a much healthier place than it was when I first started, that’s for sure.”