Andy Murray wins the nation’s hearts

It was meant to be an interview.  When Andy Murray faced the BBC’s Sue Barker shortly after losing the Wimbledon final last Sunday, he was at first incapable of saying anything. Then, after the longest pause imaginable in a broadcast interview, he gasped his way through a tear-filled mini-speech of congratulations to the victor and thanks to just about everyone else.

He broke most of the rules of media engagement. But none of it mattered. There was hardly a dry eye on centre court, and people the length and breadth of Britain were instantly won over to a player many have found it difficult to like. Murray has given thousands of media interviews during his career. How ironic, and how telling, that he achieved so much in the least polished of the lot.

Murray later apologised for what he feared might have seemed like self-indulgence. He needn’t have worried. In this age of spin (no tennis pun intended), we’re tired of interviewees saying one thing when we suspect them of believing another, we’re cynical about media personas, and we’re exhausted by endless, inept attempts to manipulate our perceptions.

For a couple of minutes, we saw a real person. And we found we liked it.