Andy Murray ‘angry’ and ‘incredibly upset’ over Texas mass shooting

Murray was a pupil at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland in 1996 when 16 children and a teacher were murdered by gunman Thomas Hamilton

Jack Rathborn
Tuesday 31 May 2022 08:18 BST
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Andy Murray admits the mass shooting in Texas last week has left him “angry” and “incredibly upset”.

The shooting in Uvalde on 24 May saw 19 children and two teachers killed, provoking new calls for gun control measures in the United States.

Murray, who was a pupil at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland in 1996 when 16 children and a teacher were murdered by gunman Thomas Hamilton,

“It’s terrible. I think there’s been over 200 mass shootings in America this year and nothing changes,” he told BBC Sport. “I can’t understand that.

“It’s disappointing. It makes you feel angry and incredibly upset.”

The two-time Wimbledon champion insists change is needed to tackle the problem in the United States.

“My feeling is that surely at some stage you do something different,” he added. “You can’t keep approaching the problem by buying more guns and having more guns in the country. I don’t see how that that that solves it.

“But I could be wrong. Let’s maybe try something different and see if you get a different outcome.”

The three-time grand slam winner was speaking after beginning his grass-court campaign with an impressive 6-2 6-1 victory over Jurij Rodionov in the first round of the Surbiton Trophy on Monday.

Murray, who will continue his preparation for Wimbledon on Wednesday in the Round of 16, has criticised the ATP and WTA over removing ranking points for the Grand Slam, labelling it “not a great move”.

“My belief is Wimbledon will go ahead and have an extremely strong player field,” added Murray, who won the men’s singles at SW19 in 2013 and 2016.

“Removing the points, if it doesn’t stop players from playing then I don’t think it’s a great move from the ATP. A lot of the players are frustrated and didn’t want that to happen.”

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