New Wimbledon statue will depict Andy Murray in ‘flying form’

It was announced last year as one of the centrepieces of Wimbledon’s 150th anniversary celebrations, but plans for a statue of Sir Andy Murray at the All England Club have otherwise remained a closely guarded secret. Until now.

Telegraph Sport has been granted an exclusive audience with the mystery artist behind the first statue of a former champion at tennis’ spiritual home since that of Fred Perry.

That artist is David Williams-Ellis, once described as “the greatest living sculptor working in portraiture”.

The 67-year-old’s best-known work is the British Normandy Memorial sculpture, one of the centrepieces of the D-Day 75th-anniversary commemorations.

He also created the statue of Manchester City legends Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee outside the club’s Etihad Stadium. And he happens to be the stepfather of Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Williams-Ellis created a bronze statue for the Princess’s 31st birthday and another to celebrate the couple’s marriage.

Telegraph Sport met Williams-Ellis after he was invited to this year’s Wimbledon before the unveiling of Murray’s statue next summer. And although careful not to disclose too much, he gave away enough to whet the appetite.

He confirmed that it was being modelled in clay – on a steel skeleton – before being cast in bronze, that it would be slightly larger than life at around a fifth bigger than the 6ft 3in Murray, and that it would weigh about half a tonne.

That would make it significantly bigger than the statue of three-time Wimbledon champion Perry, which is three-quarters life size.

Williams-Ellis, who said he was selected from a shortlist of three artists, also confirmed the new statue would depict Murray playing a shot.

Explaining how he had created “a maquette” – a scale model – of his proposed design before meeting the two-time Wimbledon champion, he said: “I met him when I was down to the last three and we worked together. And, what was fascinating, we had him in a small room and I got him to do my pose. And he did it for an hour-and-a-half solidly. He must have done it 50 times. And he was charming, he was smiling and he put his heart into it. And I was rather surprised. And I spoke to somebody on the way out, and I said, ‘That was amazing. I was expecting him to be a little bit more difficult’.

“And they just commented: ‘Well, he’s used to having a coach all the time, so being told what to do’. Anyway, he was absolutely brilliant. And he proved to me that my idea worked, because he found it quite easy to get into. And it was a constant movement. He wasn’t just standing there, frozen in time. He was actually playing a shot. He hadn’t got a ball but he was playing a shot, and nearly falling over through this rather small room. He was flying round the room.”

Williams-Ellis has been praised for “capturing the energy of movement” in his sculptures and it is this that appears to have won him his latest commission.

He said: “Two dimensions, there’s lots of ideas you could find for Andy Murray. But it’s got to work all the way round. So I had to look at masses of photographs, masses of film, and see what was Andy, what was his USP [unique selling point], what is something that you recognise from him, and make it into the best three-dimensional idea, so you can look at it from all round. He’s a very positive player and he’s got a very distinctive style.

“The other thing is that I try to specialise in movement and energy. And if you look at a lot of my sculptures, you’ll see one of the things that catches the eye – and maybe caught the eye of the [All England Club] – was not just the final pose but was the fact that I caught a lot of energy, a lot of movement. And that’s what I’m trying to put across in the sculpture and trying to put across in the design.”

After taking pictures and measurements of Murray playing a shot – “I watched how he held his racket, how he moved, and the energy” – Williams-Ellis began work on the statue about three months ago.

Revealing he was “always working from life”, Williams-Ellis commissioned a “stand-in” called Joe to pose for him during the clay-modelling process.

“He’s not quite as muscular as Andy but he’s got strength, he’s a sportsman, he plays tennis,” Williams-Ellis added. “He’s working really hard at it, standing on one leg, spinning around, doing the shot and then holding it in position wherever I ask him to hold it.”

Williams-Ellis said he was “on the home run now of the clay stage” before “casting into bronze”.

Admitting “if you don’t get the face right, you’ve had it”, he added: “You should be able to recognise the sculpture of Andy from his position. When you see it, I hope people go, ‘Oh gosh, that really is Andy in flying form’.”

It was a former global president of Christie’s auction house, Jussi Pylkkänen, who described Williams-Ellis as “the greatest living sculptor in portraiture because he captures the energy of movement”.

But despite coming with such glowing references, he admitted he was “always anxious, always nervous” about how his work would be received amid numerous questionable sculptures of sporting icons created by other artists.

“That’s what sharpens you, keeps you alert,” he added. “Just trying to get it right. I want to give something extra that works for the viewer, works for Andy, works as a sculpture. Hopefully, it covers all mixture of people’s loves and passions. And I want to get some life into his face, and energy and movement, and intensity.

“When you see, particularly Andy, he’s incredibly intense when he’s playing. And, actually, to meet him, he’s the antithesis of that. Because he’s charming and this very dry, droll sense of humour. And this gentle smile is wonderful. And I didn’t expect that.”

Williams-Ellis described the commission as an “enormous” honour, adding: “It’s fantastic. When it’s up, I’ll be really excited. I am really excited. I’m really enjoying doing it and it is a great honour to be asked. If you put it as various pinnacles of one’s career, it’ll be right up there.”

He also revealed he knew the sculptor of Perry’s statue, David Wynne, whose own work was unveiled in 1984 to mark the 50th anniversary of the tennis icon’s first Wimbledon title.

“I met him when I was about 16, 17, and he was really kind to me, and really helpful,” Williams-Ellis said of Wynne, who died in 2014. “Little did I think I’d be following in his footsteps at Wimbledon.”

Williams-Ellis has also been given a ringing endorsement by Murray, who said: “I’m really pleased that David has been selected to create the sculpture. He is so talented and I thought the likeness that he made as part of the selection process was really good.

“I’ve found the whole process really interesting, particularly all the details that bring the statue to life, like the texture of the clothes I’m wearing and the pose itself. I’m excited to see the finished statue next year.”