Judy Murray ‘turned down LTA job’

Judy Murray with her son Andy. Picture: Ian Rutherford

In an interview with BT Sport’s Clare Balding, Murray said that she would “rather die” than become LTA chief executive. Canadian Michael Downey was unveiled in the £600,000-a-year role earlier this week.

Judy Murray is the captain of the British team in the Fed Cup, the female equivalent of the Davis Cup, and was a performance coach at the governing body until 2009. She has coached both double Grand Slam winner Andy and his brother Jamie, who won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 2007.

Andy now works under the tutelage of Austrian coach Ivan Lendl, and Judy Murray said that Lendl’s presence has helped to keep the Murray camp calm at difficult moments.

She said: “I’ve learned over the last few years when Andy’s been in big finals, it’s very important you don’t show your nerves to him in anyway and since Ivan (Lendl) came in he’s helped all of us to be much calmer and shown us how to behave before those really important moments, because as a parent your kids pick up everything from you and you have to be really careful about how you present yourselves to them.”

Murray also revealed a more practical reason behind Lendl’s desire for calm - her vocal encouragement was hurting the coach’s ears. She said: “The first time I sat behind (Lendl) in a match at Wimbledon last year, he turned around and said ‘If you’re going to sit behind me again can you bring ear plugs?’”

Murray also dismissed the suggestion that Andy is a dour and downbeat character. She said: “Andy is great fun. He just doesn’t show it, mostly what you see is the performance, you don’t see what goes into the performance or how hard he works to get there, but you also don’t see his private side because he chooses not to show that.

“He doesn’t court fame and celebrity. He is a very sensitive guy and he is brilliant fun.”