Micah Richards initially had reservations about tennis legend Sir Andy Murray until the Scotsman’s sharp humour won over the former Manchester City star.
Murray, 37, is now the coach of Novak Djokovic, who is trying to win his 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. The sight of the Scot nestled in Djokovic’s corner will feel strange to many tennis fans, who will remember the Scot’s ferocious battles with the Serbian, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and many more.
While Murray’s performances drew the eyes of millions in Great Britain and the sporting world, he has had to tolerate numerous barbs about his personality. When Richards spent time with the Scot as part of the new season of ‘A League of Their Own’, the former England international admitted he was expecting his time with Murray to be forgettable.
Ahead of his appearance in the 19th series of A League of Their Own, Richards told the Mirror: “I thought Andy Murray was going to be boring. I sort of fell into the trap of the media saying, ‘Oh, he’s really boring, he’s not engaging’. He is the total opposite. What a fella he is, he is unbelievable. He’s really witty. We had a little bit of back and forth about the doubles.
“We laughed that he ‘let his doubles partner down’, and he then said: ‘Well, at least I wasn’t on the bench for Manchester City when they won the league’. He was really quick, and I was like, ‘Yes, I would love a bit of that’.
“About all of the reports about him being boring, I mean maybe he just wanted to play the media like that when he was playing? Maybe he felt that was the best way to deal with it? In real life, he was one of my favourite guests.”
In 2013, Murray confessed that he tried to keep things short and simple to limit the chance of negative headlines when he was in press conferences and interviews. He said: “I always try to give honest answers. But they are fairly boring so I don’t have to deal with the aftermath of any scandals.”
He also added: “Whether people like you or not should be irrelevant. But, to be honest, over the years I have found it difficult to open up and be a bundle of laughs in press conferences or interviews.
“I would say that I am different from what a lot of people think I am like. You don’t get to see what people are really like from in front of the TV.
“It is very easy to be ‘false’ and fake in front of the camera. But to tell jokes and be fun all the time, that’s not actually very hard to do. If you are going to be truthful and tell things like they are, that is much harder.”
Season 19 of A League of Their Own is on Sky Max and Sky Showcase every Thursday from 9pm