Andy Murray admits hair is ‘falling out’ and 007 fandom in funny interview

Andy Murray was given the chance to confirm or deny a series of internet rumors in an interview that produced entertaining results.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is pretty good at not taking himself too seriously.

And he entered into the spirit with amusing effect as he gave a recent interview that touched on some topics that did not strictly relate to his tennis.

Murray made an appearance on BBC Sport’s ‘Setting it Straight’ feature, where athletes are given the opportunity to confirm or dispel various internet rumors.

A broad range of questions were put to the former world number one, who answered honestly and appeared to enjoy himself.

Murray was laughing as he read out one of the rumors which suggested the curly afro hairstyle he used to sport in his early days on the ATP Tour was going to make a comeback.

The Briton, now 32, admitted he loved how it looked, but no longer felt he would be allowed or able to grow it.

"“My wife wouldn’t let me!” he said. “And also my hair has sort of been falling out since then so I don’t think I could get away with that anymore unfortunately.“But I liked it and lots of people have told me I should try to grow it again, but I don’t think I’ve got the capacity to do that anymore unfortunately!”"

Murray was asked if his career-saving hip operation earlier this year had really been filmed for a recent Amazon documentary which he confirmed was true.

He said he found the footage difficult to watch at that part as it was “pretty gruesome” but he feels thrilled to have come out the other side and no longer feel pain or have worries over his hip.

Murray denied he had ran onto the pitch when his favourite soccer team, Hibernian, won their first Scottish Cup for 114 years in 2016 at Hampden Park.

He also discussed how he had played for a Rangers feeder team growing up and had to make a choice between tennis and soccer over which sport to pursue. His career would suggest he made a good selection!

Murray acknowledged he had been “terrible” appearing in a rap song earlier in his tennis career, but denied it was his project, saying he was only involved in one verse and it was all masterminded by the great Bryan brothers.

Also confirmed as true was that Murray was a serious gamer until recent years.

He said he used to play the Pro Evolution Soccer series of games for hours, often staying up deep into the night even when he had a tennis match to play the next day.

"“This used to be true,” Murray said. “I would travel with a PlayStation everywhere probably until I was 25, 26.“I was playing way too much. If I had a match the next day, I was playing until around 2am or 3am, so it would be hours, not minutes.”"

Murray is a British sporting icon and he admitted he used to have a big admiration for one of the country’s biggest movie characters, James Bond, even to the point where had had the fictional spy’s nickname ‘007’ in his email address.

"“This is true,” added Murray. “I loved James Bond. I was started to get embarrassed by it by the time I was 18, 19 but I kept it until probably my mid to late 20s.“I just never bothered to change it. So every time I was asked for my email… pretty embarrassing!”"

Back to tennis and Murray is planning his preparations for the 2020 ATP Tour season.

A lingering groin problem from the Davis Cup Finals in November has led him to cancel a training camp in Miami, per a Daily Mail report.

But Andy Murray continues to train in the UK as he bids to get himself ready and is still planning to play in the ATP Cup next month as well as the Australian Open, which would be his first appearance at a major since last year’s tournament in Melbourne.