‘Appalling at every level’: Andy Murray’s family fumes at Wimbledon artwork

"All about the men in the forefront and your own British history maker nowhere to be seen. You should be ashamed of yourselves," the Scot's uncle, Niall Erskine, said.

Britain's Andy Murray in action during his round of 32 match against Australia's Alex de Minaur. (Reuters)

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Andy Murray’s family has labelled Wimbledon’s latest promotional artwork “disrespectful” and “appalling at every level” after the two-time Wimbledon champion was snubbed by the All England Club’s marketing team.

The artwork is meant to celebrate the ‘epic rivalries’ that have played out at SW19, and features Venus and Serena Williams, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, behind Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who could ‘spearhead the next generation of headline acts’. After it was posted to Instagram, Murray’s brother Jamie, a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion, replied asking “Where’s Andy Murray?”.

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During media interaction at Queen’s in London, Jamie called the artwork disrespectful. “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,” he was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. “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.”

Murray’s uncle Niall Erskine also did not mince words when hitting out at the All-England Club on Twitter. “Appalling at every level, all about the men in the forefront and your own British history maker nowhere to be seen. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he said.

Appalling at every level, all about the men in the forefront and your own British history maker nowhere to be seen. You should be ashamed of yourselves

— Niall Erskine (@NiallE) June 20, 2023

Despite being one of the greatest players of the 21st century, Murray’s lack of Grand Slam silverware has eliminated him from the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time) debate that has been the single-biggest narrative in men’s tennis. The race to see which player between Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – who won a 23rd title at Roland Garros this month – won most Majors overshadowed Murray, whose total of three titles never lived up.

But fans, for long, have suggested that this generation had a ‘Big Four’, not a ‘Big Three’. Murray may have only won three Grand Slams but reached 11 finals. He also ended 2016 as the year-end World No. 1 and has 14 Masters 1000 titles to his name. His two Wimbledon titles, in 2013 and 2016, ended a nearly eight-decade-long drought for a British player to lift the singles title at the All-England Club, and makes him one of only 12 men to have won the English singles Major multiple times in the Open Era.