Murray invited Iranian political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to Wimbledon after watching him play at SW19 from prison cell
ATP
Andy Murray explained why he invited British-Iranian political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to Wimbledon.
The 2-time Wimbledon champion started his campaign in the tournament in impressive fashion. With a commanding victory over his compatriot Ryan Peniston, winning 6-3, 6-0, 6-1, he advanced to the second round for the 15th time in as many appearances at the prestigious Grand Slam event.
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Murray was watched from the Royal Box by the Princess of Wales and 8-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who attended as a member of the All England Club. Murray's special guest was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen who was detained in Iran in 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring against the Iranian government.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe completed her sentence in 2021 but was later sentenced to an additional year in prison. She was finally released in early 2023. During her confinement, she had the opportunity to have a television in her cell to watch Wimbledon matches, including those featuring former world No. 1 Andy Murray.
"It felt like a connection, it felt like escape," said Zaghari-Ratcliffe last year.
"I was close to home all of a sudden," she added.
In the post-match press conference, Murray spoke about the author and what led him to invite her to experience tennis in a different way:
"Well, firstly, she hadn't been to Wimbledon before. After, yeah, I spoke with her, and the story she told me about watching my Wimbledon final while she was in a cell, yeah, I felt like I wanted to invite her to come along and watch the tennis in totally different circumstances," he said.
With the victory over Peniston, Murray will face a challenging task against the 5th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated the former US Open champion in an exciting five-set match in the first round.
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