Andy Murray hits out at pushy tennis parents

Sir Andy Murray has criticised pushy tennis parents after one asked him if their six-year-old should see a sports psychologist.

The three-time major winner said he had witnessed mothers and fathers putting too much pressure on their children since his son Teddy, six, started playing the sport.

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Murray spoke of his shock when one mother at a kids' tournament approached him for his thoughts on whether her son had a "mental" problem because he kept losing matches from winning positions.

She wanted to know more about Murray's own experience working with sports psychologists to see whether it could help her child.

"I have seen some interesting parenting at some of the sports [tournaments]," Murray told Andy Roddick's Served podcast. "My son went to his first tennis competition a few weeks ago. He has been playing for like three months.

"I had one of the parents come to me and they were like: 'What do you think is wrong with my son? He keeps losing matches, he gets to match point and he just can't get over the line.'

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"The kid is six and these matches are first to 10 points so they are done in about three or four minutes. The kids have no idea what's going on.

"I was like, 'I don't know, I have never seen your child hit a ball', and she was like: 'I think it's definitely mental.'

"She said: 'Did you ever use a sports psychologist?' And I went: 'I did, but not when I was six.'"

Throughout his career Murray was known for his self-directed muttering and shouty outbursts, which occasionally included the odd obscenity on court.

But the Scot, who retired from tennis in 2024 after reaching the quarter-finals of the men's doubles with Dan Evans at the Paris Olympics, adopts a calmer courtside demeanour when watching his son. "I am a good sports dad," he said. "I don't do any of that. Definitely not."

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Pushy parents are a well-documented issue in tennis, especially on the junior circuit, where children often specialise in the sport as young as nine. An expensive individual sport that requires private coaching, it is not uncommon for parents to act as managers, drivers and financial backers early on.

Tennis has a long history of parent coaches with Serena and Venus Williams – who were coached from an early age by their father, Richard – being the most notable example. Ben Shelton, this year's US Open finalist, Casper Ruud, Flavio Cobolli and Leylah Fernandez are more recent examples of players who are coached by their fathers.

Murray's own mother, Judy, was a passionate tennis coach and played a hugely influential role in getting her sons, Andy and Jamie, into the sport.

During her sons' careers, she fiercely rebutted claims that she was a pushy parent and often spoke about how hurtful it was to be characterised as one.

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She also argued that applying such a negative label to a prominent tennis mother was linked to deep-rooted sexism and double standards in the sport.

In 2020, she recounted in an interview with the Scottish Herald how the media would always pick out "aggressive" images of her at her son's matches. "They immediately created this image of me as being the overbearing mother, too competitive, too pushy, et cetera, et cetera, and it just continued from there," she said.

Sir Andy has insisted his mother never forced him or his brother Jamie to play the sport, instead allowing them to choose their own path.

Since retiring, he has revealed that his children think of him more as a golfer than a tennis player, given the amount of time he spends on the driving range.

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