Andy Murray walked around Nottingham attack areas hours before tragic deaths

14 June 2023 , 08:13

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Andy Murray walked around Nottingham attack areas hours before tragic deaths

Andy Murray has spoken of his shock at the tragic deaths in Nottingham, which happened just hours after he was walking some of the same city centre streets.

The former British number one is in action in Nottingham this week as he continues to play himself into form ahead of Wimbledon. Murray is coming off a victory in the Surbiton Trophy, where he beat Jurij Rodionov in the final, and is the top seed with reigning champion Dan Evans not involved.

His first-round game against qualifier Joris De Loore went to plan, with a straight sets win. However, Murray admitted he was initially unsure whether the game would go ahead after three people - including two students - lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"We are staying in the city centre and had been out for dinner last night and walking around those areas," Murray told reporters. "You never expect something like that to happen, it was really shocking.

"I didn't know if it was going to affect anything here or not because the streets were closed this morning. Really shocking and obviously heartbreaking for the victims and the people involved so hopefully everyone is safe now.

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"We were talking about it this morning, saying that we didn't know if the tournament was going to be suspended for the day because there are way more important things than a tennis event and we didn't know first thing what was going on because it happened in the middle of the night.

"It is a bit unsettling, it seems like everything is under control now but it was shocking news to wake up to."

Andy Murray won his first-round game in Nottingham (Getty Images for LTA)

Murray took less than 90 minutes to beat De Loore in his opener. His second round opponent will be Hugo Grenier after the Frenchman bested Jan Choinski in straight sets.

After an injury-hit few years, Murray currently sits outside the top 40 in the ATP world rankings. He still has an outside chance of being seeded for Wimbledon, depending on his progress in Nottingham, and will be looking to reach the second week for the first time since 2017.

Murray reached the second round last year, losing to John Isner. The last time he won the men's singles at Wimbledon was back in 2016, when he beat Milos Raonic in the final.

“The main thing for me is to try and obviously get as many matches as possible, play in different conditions against all different styles of opponent. I want to get as deep as possible and try and get close to seeding for Wimbledon. That’s my goal these next few weeks, so hopefully I can get a bit closer this week.”

Tom Victor