As Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Kim Sears announce their engagement after nine years together, HELLO! Online looks back at the pair's roller-coaster romance.The bride and groom-to-be first met at a party for the US Open in 2005. At the time, Kim was travelling with her father, Nigel, who was head of the women's section of the lawn tennis association in England.Their romance developed quickly but the couple managed to keep it under wraps as they spent time getting to know each other.
Kim and Andy first met in 2005
Kim was hurtled into the limelight a year later when Andy won his first ever tournament in San Jose, California and rushed through the crowds to give his stunning new girlfriend a kiss.She was a teenager still at school at the time. "I went away with him thinking it's fine because he's never going to win so I'll be back in time for school on Monday and then he did!" she later recalled. "I remember saying to my mum, you've got to call in and tell them I've got the winter vomiting virus and I won't be in but then it was on the front cover of the paper so I was busted," she said.Kim grew up in Barcombe, West Sussex with her tennis coach father Nigel, South African mother Leonore and younger brother Scott. She met Andy at the age of 17 while she was still in sixth form and he was her first serious boyfriend.Kim went on to achieve straight A's in her Music, Art and Drama A-levels and studied English Literature at the University of Sussex.
Kim was just 17 when she first met her future husband
She quickly became part of "Team Murray", travelling around the world and supporting her tennis superstar boyfriend in the majority of his tournaments.Kim's support is warmly welcomed by Andy, but he has revealed that his girlfriend has no interest in becoming a WAG. She is currently painting portraits of pets for wealthy clients around London and trying to kick-start her acting career. Andy admits that Kim "doesn't want to follow me around on tour".The couple have had their fair share of turbulent times throughout their relationship, however. In 2009, six months after moving into a £5-million house in Oxshott, Surrey, they took a break from their relationship and Kim moved out of their six-bedroom home.The split didn't last long and in June 2010, Kim and Andy rekindled their relationship and have been together ever since. The Sussex beauty has formed a close bond with Andy's mum, Judy, who described Kim as "the best thing that ever happened" to her son.
Andy has been going to Wimbledon since he was 14 when he played in the Junior Championships. He won his first Grand Slam against Novak Djokovic at the US open in September 2012 to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title.The proud Scotsman is passionate about his tennis and his dream is to be remembered for his on-court talents but he has admitted that tennis is not everything.He revealed that his parents' divorce was very hard for him to handle and has made him value his relationship with Kim even more.
"I love tennis and want to become a great tennis player," Andy has said. "I want to be remembered for what I did on court. But I don't want to stop playing and then have nothing."I want to plan a future as well. I hope that, by the time I stop, I'll have a family and kids."I'm sure I'll stay involved in tennis in some way, but happiness is the most important thing," he said.
