You definitely get to a stage in life where you don't care what people think of you

TENNIS-MUM EXTRAORDINAIRE JUDY MURRAY IS BACK WITH A COSY CRIME NOVEL SET IN A TENNIS CLUB. SHE TALKS TO ELLA WALKER ABOUT WHODUNNITS AND HER SONS' REMARKABLE CAREERS

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WE'RE almost half way through Wimbledon fortnight, but this year's competition has had a different feeling for many fans.

That's because two-time champion Sir Andy Murray, 38, will not be on court, following his retirement from professional tennis after the Paris Olympics last year.

His mum, Judy, has been there though, with a seat in the Royal Box to watch Tuesday's play.

Catching up with Judy before the championships, she revealed how she was looking forward to experiencing the tournament without the “huge pressure and huge stress” visited on her sons - Andy and seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jamie, 39 - at the height of their playing careers.

“When the boys played as juniors, I found it enormously exciting,” says Judy, who remembers watching Wimbledon on a black and white TV with her mum as a child in Scotland.

“In the days where all hopes of any success were really pinned on them, after Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski retired, I went to watch their matches and left. I didn't hang around,” she remembers.

“I am looking forward to going back, watching anybody else and just enjoying the whole atmosphere of this wonderful tournament.”

Judy says of Andy: “I'm very happy he's retired. He went through so much to try to repair the hip, rehab the hip, give himself a chance to compete again on the biggest stages.

“The last five years or so, you had your heart in your mouth all the time, hoping nothing else was going to break down in his body, because when he got the hip injury [around 2016], he was number one in the world. He was playing the best tennis of his life.”