I used to not really care about or like Andy Murray very much. He was so grumpy, so whingy in his early days. Then something shifted – maybe it was me, maybe it was him, but suddenly I really began rooting for him. I think it was a combination of things – he revealed his dry, obscene wit, he really let all of his emotions out, both good and bad. He started behaving more and more like he was one of the leaders of tennis instead of the whinging outsider, that helped too. Add to all of that, Murray developed into something of a genuinely woke feminist ally, one of the few on the ATP (the men’s tour).

Last year, after he killed a butterfly at the US Open (RIP butterfly) and lost in the QFs, he went on a crazy winning streak and ended up world #1 for the first time in his career. He hasn’t had a moment’s peace since then, but still – it’s impressive that he was able to carve out those wins last year. He just lost the #1 ranking to a resurgent (but not unbeatable) Rafa Nadal, and Murray is one of the few top ranked players who will be playing New York this year (Djokovic, Wawrinka & a half dozen others have already ended their year). To promote his turn at the last Slam of the year, Murray chatted with Elle Magazine about feminism, tennis emotions and being called a “Scottish wanker” at Wimbledon. Some highlights:

If Murray feels like the only player standing up for women: “I certainly wouldn’t be the only one, but what I just don’t get is why it wouldn’t be something that tennis players are proud of, like, to be the only sport [where the male and female game and earnings] are even comparable. That’s positive. We still have so many issues, but it’s something that tennis players should celebrate.”

The Scottish wanker: “The second Wimbledon I played, I’m walking to my match and a lady on her mobile phone goes, ‘Oh, that Scottish wanker just walked past.’ I was like, What? I was 19. This is my home tournament. Why is this happening?”

Media management in the early days: “I had no idea what I could and couldn’t say, so I’d just say whatever was on my mind. At the start, they were like, Oh, this is a breath of fresh air, this is fantastic! But then everything you say is a big story, and you see some people like what you’re saying and some people hate it, and you’re like, F–k, why don’t these people like me? What have I done wrong? It’s difficult.”

After losing in the Wimbledon final in 2012: “The pressure and expectation was a lot. And the guys I was competing against, all of them would probably be in the top five of all time. It was actually when I accepted I might never [win a Grand Slam event] that things started to change a little bit for me.”

On female tennis coaches: “Some argue, Oh, well, she’s a woman, so she can’t understand the men’s game. But then how can a man understand the women’s game? I obviously grew up getting coached by my mum, so I didn’t see any issue. But even I—when I came on the professional tour, there were no men coached by women, so looking for a coach, you assume you’re looking for a man, but when you get older you realize…well, no, it doesn’t have to be that way.”

On his former coach, Amélie Mauresmo: “When it first came out in the press that I may be working with a woman, I got a message from one of the players who is now coaching. He said to me: I love this game that you’re playing with the press; maybe you should tell them tomorrow that you’re considering working with a dog. That’s the sort of stuff that was said when I was thinking about it. The amount of criticism she got in comparison to any other coach I’ve ever worked with—it’s not comparable at all. Now, when I lose a match, I get the blame. When I was working with her, it was always her fault.”

On the perception that women don’t handle pressure as well as men: “There’s a perception that women don’t handle pressure as well as men do, but it’s not true. A lot of the top men are very, very emotional on the courts. Not all of them. But some of them. And I would be one. I don’t handle my emotions particularly well in comparison to a lot of the women. If you talked about the worst behaved tennis players, most of them would be men.”

[From Elle]

The whole “women are more emotional” argument is such f–king bulls–t in general, but in specifically the tennis world, it’s absolutely a crazy argument to make. Andy is one of the most emotional players, male or female, on any given court. He screams at the people in his player’s box, he yells at the heavens, he bitches at the umpire and he’s always throwing tantrums. There are often more tears and screams from the male players in general – the women just get it done and suffer in relative silence. You could argue that someone like Serena Williams is one of the more “emotional” female players, but even then, she wouldn’t be allowed to get away with half of the sh-t Andy does and says without everyone declaring her a total basketcase (even Serena has said, affectionately, that Andy acts like a big baby). As for the rest of what he says… Andy is a feminist/feminist ally. It is known. I love him.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.