Andy Murray’s wedding ‘may help Wimbledon chances’

Murray married long-term girlfriend Kim Sears at Dunblane Cathedral earlier this year. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

The couple wed at Dunblane Cathedral in April this year after dating since 2005.

Since the wedding, the Scot believes he is in even better form than when he won the tournament in 2013, declaring that “marriage works”.

Roberto Forzoni, a sports psychology expert who has worked with Murray in the past, said: “I think marriage has played a role in providing a bit more stability in his life.

“He has been seeing Kim for years and he is not a lad who goes out drinking, but the marriage may have helped.

“It adds to him maturing and thinking more like a grown up.

“But you can’t get over the fact that as people get a bit older and a bit more mature they will have been in situations a number of times and they learn how to deal with those situations.”

Sports performance consultant Andy Barton said life milestones such as marriage or the birth of children can have just as much an effect on a sportsman’s performance as fitness and motivation.

Mr Barton pointed to former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who preferred his players to get married.

He said: “My experience with sports people is that it isn’t that they don’t take their sport too seriously, it is that they make it too important.

“They can start over-thinking things and worrying about the consequences of their actions.

“If your life is a bit broader it doesn’t put so much stress on it and if you miss a point your life’s not over, you have other things to consider.

“Now that Andy has got something else to look towards, such as his obligations as a husband, he may feel he has something outside and it doesn’t become all or nothing.

“He does seem to look more at ease with himself on the court. He is smiling a lot more, which he never used to do.

“He seems more consistent in terms of each point that he’s playing and that could be because he is feeling more grounded and settled.”