Andy Murray: Tennis helped me escape the horrors of Dunblane school massacre

Murray and his brother Jamie were in school in March 1996 when Hamilton shot and killed young pupils before turning the gun on himself.

The tennis champion, who was nine at the time of the shooting, said he attended killer Thomas Hamilton's kids clubs.

Murray and his brother Jamie were in school in March 1996 when Hamilton shot and killed young pupils before turning the gun on himself.

He spoke about the tragedy for Amazon documentary 'Andy Murray: Resurfacing'. He found it too hard to speak face to face about the events, but left a voicemail for the director.

He told film-maker Olivia Cappuccini: "You asked me a while ago why tennis was important to me. Obviously I had the thing that happened at Dunblane. When I was around nine.

"I am sure for all the kids there it would be difficult for different reasons. The fact we knew the guy, we went to his kids club, he had been in our car, we had driven and dropped him off at train stations and things.'

"Within 12 months of that happening, our parents got divorced. It was a difficult time that for kids.

"And then six to 12 months after that, my brother also moved away from home. He went away to train to play tennis in Cambridge.

"We obviously used to do everything together. When he moved away that was also quite hard for me."

He opened up about his anxiety following the events.

He added: "When I was competing I would get really bad breathing problems.

"My feeling towards tennis is that it's an escape for me in some ways. Because all of these things are stuff that I have bottled up."