Micah Richards wasn’t keen on spending time with Sir Andy Murray until the two-time Wimbledon champion stunned the ex-footballer with his sense of humour.
Murray, 37, is in Australia attempting to guide Novak Djokovic towards an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Throughout his playing days, Murray’s showdowns, especially at Wimbledon, captivated millions across Great Britain.
The Moray native retired from the sport after the Paris Olympic Games, where he and Dan Evans reached the doubles quarter-finals only to lose to United States duo Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz. Yet, despite his thrilling matches, Murray was always accused of being boring.
Former England international and Manchester City ace Richards was one of those who thought Murray was going to be bland. During Murray’s appearance on the 19th season of ‘A League of Their Own,’ the tennis star proved he is a brighter character than he is given credit for.
While promoting the new season of Sky’s ‘A League of Their Own’, where Murray features as a guest, Richards told the Mirror: “I thought Andy Murray was going to be boring.
“I sort of fell into the trap of the media saying ‘oh, he’s really boring, he’s not engaging’. He is the total opposite. What a fella he is, he is unbelievable. He’s really witty. We had a little bit of back and forth about the doubles.
“We laughed that he ‘let his doubles partner down’ and he then said: ‘Well, at least I wasn’t on the bench for Manchester City when they won the league’. He was really quick, and I was like, ‘Yes, I would love a bit of that’.
“About all of the reports about him being boring, I mean, maybe he just wanted to play the media like that when he was playing? Maybe he felt that was the best way to deal with it? In real life, he was one of my favourite guests.”
In 2013, Murray told GQ that he never intentionally tried to say anything shocking in press conferences and interviews, as he didn’t want to generate any unnecessary headlines. He said: “I always try to give honest answers. But they are fairly boring so I don’t have to deal with the aftermath of any scandals.”
He added: “Whether people like you or not should be irrelevant. But, to be honest, over the years, I have found it difficult to open up and be a bundle of laughs in press conferences or interviews. I would say that I am different from what a lot of people think I am like. You don’t get to see what people are really like from in front of the TV.
“It is very easy to be ‘false’ and fake in front of the camera. But to tell jokes and be fun all the time, that’s not actually very hard to do. If you are going to be truthful and tell things like they are, that is much harder.”
Season 19 of A League of Their Own is on Sky Max and Sky Showcase every Thursday from 9pm.