Andy's thoughts on Sue Barker extracted from an article by Stu Fraser & John Westerby in Friday's Times headed "Andy Murray rents London flat to avoid Wimbledon delays":

Meanwhile, Murray has paid tribute to the BBC's Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker as she prepares to step down after 30 years. The pair developed a close friendship after becoming acquainted through interviews and documentaries. "Away from the camera, I always loved chatting to Sue," Murray, 35, said. "It was like chatting to my mum, or a relative almost. She has that warmth.

Usually you do interviews on the TV and it doesn't always feel the most natural to me. But with her, a lot of the time I felt like she was able to make you forget about that.  When I would go to the studio at Wimbledon, she made it feel more relaxed. It was like you're chatting to someone in the living room or whatever. That was what I really loved about her. She also seems like a genuinely nice person. I've watched her on the TV growing up, whether that was at Wimbledon or on a Question of Sport.

She was obviously an amazing tennis player [Barker won the 1976 French Open]. A lot of people maybe don't realise that about her because she has become so good at what she does now. To now be known as something different is pretty, pretty cool."

The article is inevitably behind a paywall.  If I could remember how that Archive Today thingy worked, I'd use it to provide a link.  

Bob in Spain wrote:

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This has to be one of the most amazing stories about someone who watched Andy win his 2nd Wimbledon.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-64074678

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I came across the article independently a few minutes ago & came on here with a view to posting the link, onlhy to fnd that you'd already done so a good few hours ago, Bob!  I agree with you.  The fact that Nazanin actually watched the 2016 final from her cell in Evin prison beggars belief - & says a lot about the pulling power of Wimbedon outside the UK!

JonH comes home wrote:

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Andy confirmed for Rotterdam in Feb. Suspect Andy is now prioritising getting his ranking up over Davis Cup and why not , given the team we have!

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 Whatever Andy would prefer to prioritise  to my mind he doesn't make our best Davis Cup team anyway, whether on clay or hard. That best team is the one selected vs Colombia.

JonH comes home wrote:

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www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jan/21/andy-murray-rolled-back-years-but-even-heroes-have-limits

Marvellous

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 Thanks, I enjoyed reading that!