Andy Murray’s family attacks his omission from Wimbledon painting as ‘appalling at every level’

Andy Murray’s family have branded a new promotional artwork unveiled ahead of this year’s Wimbledon Championships “appalling at every level” after it omitted the two-time champion.

The image, distributed by the All England Club on Tuesday via social media, is meant to depict Wimbledon’s famous rivalries and features two current players, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, standing in the centre of the clubhouse. Behind them on the stairs is Roger Federer with an arm around each of his most implacable opponents: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

But Murray, who ended a 77-year drought for male Britons at Wimbledon in 2013 and won again in 2016, is absent from the picture.

Murray’s brother Jamie responded to the AELTC’s post on Instagram with a simple comment saying “Where’s Andy Murray?”

Later, speaking to reporters at Queen’s, Jamie Murray was asked whether he thought the omission was disrespectful.

“I thought so,” he replied. “I mean he was part of the big four for 10 years, maybe more. Obviously he was No 1 in the world and then he smashed up his hip, and since then it’s been tough going for him.

“But he won the singles twice in an incredible era of tennis and made another final.

“I thought it was a bit of a slight, especially with everything that he brought to the tournament for so long. The whole country was falling in behind his journey to try to become the champion – but there you go.’

Andy’s uncle, Niall Erskine, was also outspoken in an angry Twitter outburst: “Appalling at every level,” wrote Erskine. “All about the men in the forefront and your own British history maker nowhere to be seen. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Other comments on social media highlighted the way in which the aforementioned five male players dominate the image. To some, it reinforces a sexist worldview in which men’s sport is treated as superior to women’s, especially as four more men (Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe) are visible on the next flight of stairs.

While the artist has included three sets of female rivals, all of them are pictured in the background. The two Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, are among the least prominent figures, despite having shared 12 Wimbledon singles titles between them.

Chris Evert is presented alongside Martina Navratilova, who won nine titles in singles and 11 in doubles. The roll-call is completed by a hard-to-identify pair who are thought to be Iga Swiatek and reigning champion Elena Rybakina.

As for the two foreground figures, Alcaraz and Sinner were presumably chosen because they played an entertaining fourth-round match at Wimbledon last year, and then backed it up with a classic five-setter at the US Open a couple of months later.

At 20 and 21 respectively, they represent the next generation of talent on the ATP Tour. But tennis fans were quick to point out that they have each won a not-so-grand total of four matches at Wimbledon. In other words, Navratilova has won more singles titles than they have matches – between them.

The painting was created by Grant Gruenhaupt, an illustrator who specialises in sporting scenes, and who also provided the All England Club with promotional artwork during last year’s Wimbledon.

Responding to Jamie Murray’s query on Instagram, Gruenhaupt wrote “Worry not Jamie, there are more paintings on the way.”

This is not the first time that the British tennis establishment has inexplicably failed to acknowledge Murray’s massive contribution, which single-handedly maintained British interest in Wimbledon between the retirement of Tim Henman in 2007 and the emergence of Johanna Konta and Cameron Norrie in recent years.

A row developed in 2019 when the Lawn Tennis Association failed to include a single photograph of the Murray family in an expensive rebranding document entitled “Tennis Opened Up”.

The 10th anniversary of Andy Murray’s first Wimbledon title is due on July 7.