Love match finishes after four years as Murray and Sears split up

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 22:44

SCOTTISH tennis star Andy Murray has split with his girlfriend Kim Sears after four years together.

The 21-year-old has moved out of the 5 million mansion she shared with Murray in Surrey and returned home to her parents.

The pair have been together since they met at the US Open in September 2005.

However, the first sign of a rift came a few days ago when Sears was absent from a match at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London.

She was not sitting in the stand alongside Murray's mother Judy as normal.

Speculation over her absence centred around the high workload she faces at university.

Sears is completing an English literature degree at Brighton University and has expressed an ambition to go into publishing.

A spokesman for 19 Entertainment, which manages the world No4, said: "Andy and Kim have mutually agreed to separate. They remain friends and ask for privacy at this time."

Sears' mother, Leonore, also confirmed that her daughter had split from Murray.

A friend of the couple said: "No-one else is involved. Both Andy and Kim are saddened that the relationship is over but they mutually felt it was time for them to part. They are both very young and it is not unusual for young people to split up."

Some tennis insiders said it was not entirely surprising the couple had gone their separate ways and it was perhaps more unusual for such a young couple to have stayed together for so long, especially as Sears had been studying while Murray was travelling the world.

Murray and Sears met through his former coach Mark Petchey. She is the daughter of Nigel Sears, head coach of women's tennis in the UK. Sears became familiar to millions of tennis fans worldwide, especially at Wimbledon, where television cameras constantly picked up the emotion written on her face as she cheered Murray from the stands.

But she repeatedly made it clear she did not intend to follow him around the world full-time.

Recently, Murray insisted he placed family and friends above his career.

Having seen his parents, Judy and Will, divorce when he was a teenager in Dunblane, Murray said: "I work better in a relationship.

"If I've lost a match, I don't like talking about tennis, so it's nice to have someone to talk to about other stuff.

"As I have got older, having gone through my parents' divorce, it has become important to me to work hard at having a successful relationship. I found the divorce difficult.

"Tennis is important to me but it's not the most important thing. My family and friends are more important.

"The job obviously matters but what goes on off the court is bigger."

Murray and Sears shunned the celebrity lifestyle, preferring nights in at their mansion, which they shared with their Border terrier, Maggie.