Andy Murray fools Twitter as he reveals dry humour... again
Misunderstood Scot forced to back-track on wedding plans after tongue-in-cheek Q&A with fans
ANDY MURRAY has a largely undeserved reputation as a dour Scot among many tennis fans, and it seems that his brand of dry humour does not translate well to Twitter after he was forced to deny a series of tongue-in-cheek claims he made on the social networking site during a question and answer session.
The Wimbledon champion may be regretting his decision to field questions on the website after a quip about getting married got picked up by news media around the world, and off-hand comments about rival Rafa Nadal and smoking cannabis were also jumped on.
Asked by one user if he planned to marry long-term girlfriend Kim Sears, Murray replied: "We are getting married just after Wimbledon should be a great day".
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He also revealed that he had "daily" urges to kill rivals Nadal and Roger Federer, and described the former as "weird" in another answer.
When faced with a particularly odd question, inquiring if he had eaten grass in order to win Wimbledon, he gave an equally strange answer, replying that he smoked it instead.
Elsewhere during the session he claimed that he did not smile in public because he was embarrassed by his teeth, suffered from "vicious" body odour and that his PR man was answering all the questions.
Soon after the end of the session, and presumably after a call from his media advisors, Murray sent another tweet:
"It's not easy being Andy," writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph. "He is often portrayed as boring, largely because he was born with a monotone voice – the aspect of himself he once said he would most like to change. But when he tries to be light-hearted, not everyone gets the joke."
However, he does appear to have won over some people. Australian website News.com.au expresses shock that Murray is in possession of "the sort of dry, sarcastic wit we haven't seen since Basil Fawlty ran a hotel in Torquay. " It went on to describe him as "a total wise guy".
But it's by no means the first time Murray has shown off his caustic wit. After winning Wimbledon he was asked by TV presenter Holly Willoughby if he would marry Sears. He drily replied: "I only met you like ten minutes ago, so I wouldn't be telling you first."
Murray's quips in press conferences are often so arch that they are overlooked, but he is a big comedy fan and has taken to court with Will Ferrell. He can also do slapstick, as he showed when bombarding coach Ivan Lendl with volleys during a charity match in aid of friend Russ Hutchins at Queens last year.
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