It's been a special year for Judy Murray, with her son Andy marrying his childhood sweatheart Kim Sears in the summer. But 2016 is shaping up to be her most exciting year yet, or as she calls it: "the year of the granny".
Newlyweds Andy and Kim will make Judy a first-time grandmother come February, and the 56-year-old couldn't be happier.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJudy Murray has expressed her joy at becoming a grandmother
"It's my first time and I am very excited, I will take to it well," she told HELLO! Online exclusively. "My mum was an active granny to Jamie and Andy and also to my twin nieces so I would hope to be as good a granny as she is."
Sadly the grandmother-to-be won't be spending Christmas in Scotland with her son and his wife, as Andy will stay with Kim in the south before he jets off Down Under to take part in the Australian Open in January.
"Christmas is not necessarily my favourite time of year," she tells HELLO!. "With the careers that the boys have we don't often get the chance to have everybody in the same place at Christmas – the tournaments at the beginning of the year are always in Australia or somewhere warm so they often have to spend it training in hot countries."
© Photo: Getty ImagesJudy won't be spending Christmas with Andy, who will stay in the south with mum-to-be Kim
She is, however, looking forward to making her favourite festive desserts and sweets at her mum's home.
"Christmas dinner is shared between my sisters-in-laws, my mum and me. My mum loves doing it and having everybody at her home. We all muck in and I usually make the desserts and sweets."
"I like fresh fruit glaze, making marzipan dates, marshmallow top hats and chocolate strawberries. I have a sweet tooth!" she laughs.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe 56-year-old will be returning to Strictly early next month
Judy, who was a contestant on last year's Strictly Come Dancing, has been so busy on her latest project – promoting HEAD's new range of radical racquets – that she has struggled to keep up with the latest series of the hit BBC show. "I haven't watched it as much as I normally would because I have been away a lot," she confesses.
"Apart from Anton, my favourite this series was Jeremy Vine, who was so much fun to watch. I have watched Strictly pretty much since it started and back then it was about people who were learning to dance and you followed their journey of learning and watching them improve. So I think I've always identified with the people who start from almost no experience."
Speaking about her own experience on the show, she said: "I think it's fair to say I wasn't good at anything. I was quite disappointed with myself at how bad I was at it but I think at my age it was a long, long time since I learned a new skill and I found it very difficult to remember everything."
© Photo: RexThe mother-of-two was partnered with Anton Du Beke during last year's series
"I also think I'm not a performer, I'm not in the entertainment business, so when you have to actually perform it in front of the cameras and the judges and the audience and band it's a very different sensation to practising all week in an empty dance studio."
So, would she do it again? "I enjoyed it enormously and I would do it all over again. I miss it, I miss the friends that I made. When you stay in it for a reasonable amount of time you get to know people quite well and you're all doing the same thing, in the same boat. I have made some really good friends," she revealed.
And who would the tennis coach like to see lift the Glitter Ball trophy? "I want Anton to do well because we became such great friends after the last series but I think Georgia May Foote is great and also Jay McGuinness, they are really fun to watch."
She will be lucky enough to watch them live next month, when Judy returns to Strictly – this time as a member of the audience.
"I am going to watch Strictly on the 5th December. I’ll be in the audience and it will be nice to catch up with everybody again."
Judy Murray is an Ambassador for Head Tennis racquets in the UK, and is launching the new Head Graphene XT Radical racquet series and this accompanying video:
Speaking about the new racquets, Judy said: "It has the latest technology and it's made from graphene, which makes the racquet stronger, but lighter. I have one, it looks pretty good and because it's lighter it travels much faster through the air. You should be able to hit the ball harder but with less effort, it's all about the material.
"Andy has one and he is loving it, it will be the racquet that he will be using in the 2016 season."
