Standing outside the beautiful Scottish country hotel owned by her tennis star son Sir Andy, family is very much on Judy Murray's mind. The hotel has seen many a happy occasion: Andy and his older brother Jamie both celebrated their weddings here, and as a family they have spent happy Christmases tucking into lunch in the private dining room.
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Since the two-time Wimbledon men's singles champion and former world No. 1 bought Cromlix, near his home town Dunblane, in 2013, Judy has thrown her energy into it – just as she has been the engine behind Andy's career and that of his brother Jamie, a seven-time Grand Slam doubles winner.
Judy posing in front of Cromlix
Judy has herself become a household name – she competed on hit BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing in 2014, partnering king of the ballroom Anton Du Beke. And today we're meeting to talk about her new TV show, Driving Force, an 11-part docuseries that premieres on Sky Sports this week.
As Judy invites HELLO! to the luxury boutique hotel in Perthshire for this exclusive interview and photoshoot, she is clearly very much at home in the stunning location, which boasts fabulous 34-acre grounds including a loch and, fittingly, two tennis courts in Wimbledon's famous purple and green.
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"Last year we had a family Christmas dinner here, which was fabulous," says Judy. "The hotel has a big private dining room that seats about 24 and it's a great place for everybody to get together. But so often at Christmas the boys are away on the tennis circuit. We don't know what's happening this year.
"Andy and Jamie travel a lot and that is part of their lives, but I see them as much as I can. I'd love them to be able to get up to Scotland more but their way of life means that normal family moments are few and far between. But you accept that because that's what they've chosen to do."
The mother-of-two has opened up about Christmas
Andy, who married artist Kim Sears in 2015 with a reception at Cromlix – where Jamie married marketing manager Alejandra Gutiérrez in 2010 in the hotel chapel – is dad to Sophia, four, Edie, three, and one-year-old Teddy – and Judy, 61, says she loves being a grandmother.
"I'm a very lively, active granny and apparently I'm very good at winding them up and handing them back, which is exactly what a granny should do," she says with a laugh. "It's definitely an incentive for me to keep fit and in shape, being able to run around after the kids."
Andy, 33, and Jamie, 34, both talk about Judy's role in their success in the first episode of Driving Force. "She's a special, special woman," says Andy. "We were never pushed into playing tennis specifically. It just happened to be [what] me and my brother were best at."
"My mum has been a big driving force behind two kids that got to No. 1 in the world," adds Jamie. "There will never be another like her."
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