Story highlights
Andy Murray's wife gives birth to baby girl
Daughter is the couple's first child
Top four in men's tennis now all fathers
It’s a girl!
Andy Murray has become a father after his wife Kim Sears gave birth to their first child.
“Andy and Kim had a daughter in the early hours of Sunday morning and the family are doing well,” the British tennis star’s agent confirmed Tuesday.
Details have yet to be revealed about the child’s name.
Murray married Sears last April in his Scottish hometown of Dunblane, and they announced the pregnancy in August.
The world No. 2 had been apart from his wife during some of the final weeks of her term while competing at last month’s Australian Open, where he was beaten in the final by Novak Djokovic.
An emotional Murray said immediately after his defeat in Melbourne that he was eager to get back to their home in Oxshott, Surrey, for the birth.
“You’ve been a legend the past two weeks,” he said of Sears courtside. “Thanks for your support and I’ll be on the next flight home.”
Murray had also made it clear he would have departed the season’s opening grand slam and flown home had Sears given birth to their child earlier than expected.
“My child is more important to me, and my wife is more important to me, than a tennis match,” he said.
“I’d be way more disappointed winning the Australian Open and not being at the birth of the child.”
Murray met Sears in 2005, and they were engaged in November 2014. He said last December that he would take February off the ATP Tour in order to care for the baby.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was among those to congratulate the couple on the birth of their daughter.
The world’s top four male tennis players – Djokovic, Murray, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka – are now all fathers.
Murray, a Wimbledon and U.S. Open winner, helped Great Britain to its first Davis Cup triumph since 1936 in November. The team will begin the defense of its title against Japan on March 4-6.