Andy Murray on playing chess with his five-year-old son: ‘He’s going to the toilet in middle of the game, comes back, beats me’

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Andy Murray Last match Paris OLympics retirement Andy Murray of Britain cries and waves to the spectators after he and his partner Daniel Evans defeated by Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States in the men's doubles quarterfinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug.1, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Andy Murray, free from his coaching role with Novak Djokovic, has found a new hobby — chess. And he disclosed that his five-year-old son Teddy has already started beating him at the sport, which, he added, has been ‘humbling for my intelligence’.

Murray, a three-time Major winner, retired from professional tennis last year. Since then, he’s dabbled in coaching and was a part of Djokovic’s entourage until last month. But after the pair parted ways just before the French Open, Murray has been spending time playing chess with his son at home.

And that, he said, has been ‘challenging’, more so because Teddy interrupts the game to request help in the bathroom before returning to the board and beating his father.

"It's humbling for my intelligence" 😂 Andy Murray says his five-year-old beats him at chess ♟️ pic.twitter.com/xIroIbgTtb

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 9, 2025

“My five-year-old boy has got massively into chess, which I’m really enjoying playing with him because I’m not a particularly good chess player but I’ve got quite an analytical mind,” Murray told the BBC. “I enjoy the game and watching him learn and playing with him. It’s difficult losing to a five-year-old when in the middle of the game he’s asking you to come and wipe his bum, essentially. He’s going to the toilet in the middle of the game, and then he comes back and is beating me at chess. It’s humbling that, for my intelligence.”

Meanwhile, Murray added that he will be open to returning to coaching ‘at some stage’. “I would do it again at some stage. I don’t think that will happen immediately. I wasn’t planning on going into coaching as soon as I finished playing but it was a pretty unique opportunity. It was a chance to learn from one of the best athletes of all time,” he said.

Murray added: “You also learn a lot about how to work with a team. As an individual athlete, you have a team of people around you, but you’re the focal point whereas when you’re coaching an individual, you’re working with a physio, physical trainers, agents, and you need to know how to get your message across to the player and find out what makes them tick. That was the thing I learned and something I need to work on if I want to do it again in the future.”

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