World No 1 Andy Murray was obviously not a happy man after going down to Sam Querrey as he hobbled to a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4), 1-6, 1-6 loss in the Wimbledon quarter-final at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Wednesday.
He looked fatigued at the post-match press conference but was left most unamused at a question thrown at him by a journalist at the media briefing.
Here’s how things panned out.
The reporter begins by saying: “Andy, Sam is the first US player to reach a major semi-final since 2009," and at this juncture Murray interrupts the reporter and corrects him saying "Male player" in his booming voice and his face as straight as a pole, to which the reporter says "I beg your pardon" and Murray repeats himself.
The journalist then cheekily laughs it off and says, "Yes, first male player that's for sure."
Murray doesn't look one bit amused by the reporter's reaction and just goes "hmmm", throwing a stern stare in his direction even as the reporter continues with his question.
This is not the first time that Murray has won our hearts with his stance against sexism.
In the past too he has called out journalists for factual errors of sexist nature.
Last year, at the Rio Olympics, Murray made it a point to correct BCC's John Inverdale after the former defended his Olympic gold medal following his win over Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
Inverdale asked" You're the first person to ever win two Olympic tennis gold medals, that’s an extraordinary feat, isn’t it?”, to which Murray replied and corrected him in one breath.
“Well to defend the singles title, I think Venus and Serena have won about four each … it’s obviously not an easy thing to do and I had to fight unbelievably hard to get it tonight as well.”
Murray, who has a 16-month-old daughter, Sophia, became the first leading male player to appoint a female coach when he chose the former French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo.
Mauresmo, a winner of two Grand Slam tournaments and 25 WTA titles, was appointed by Murray in June 2014, after previous coach Ivan Lendl quit.
He worked with her for nearly two years before they parted way after the birth of her child.
Under the tutelage of Mauresmo, Murray climbed to world number two in the rankings and had clinched his first clay-court titles last year in Munich and Madrid.
He was also critical of veteran Margaret Court, who recently made homophobic statements about same-sex marriage earlier this year.
In May this year, Court wrote an open letter to Qantas Airlines opposing their support of same-sex marriage and her beliefs were condemned by several current and former players, including Australia's Samantha Stosur, Nick Kyrgios and Jaimee Fourlis.
"I don't see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married," Murray had told reporters.
"If it's two men, two women, that's great. I don't see why it should matter. It's not anyone else's business. Everyone should have the same rights."
We say more respect, power and success to the Scot!
Video courtesy: Wimbledon.com
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