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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Entertainment
Rhianna Benson

Judy Murray tells Lorraine the importance of tackling sexism in sport

Tennis coach Judy Murray has spoken out about the importance of tackling sexism in the world of sport.

Stirlingshire-born Murray, 62, who will return to our television screens on Monday (January 17) for a brand new series of Driving Point, which sees her meeting some of the country's most successful sports stars, appeared on Lorraine today to discuss her pledge.

"It's a great insight into the whole backstory behind seven of our most successful sports women," she revealed about the show. "And it talks about everything around who and what inspired and helped them on the way to the top of whichever sport they did.

"But it also raises a lot of talking points around the issues and challenges that still exist for women in sport and for women's sport, and we hope that this will encourage others to use their voices to speak out when they see their role models discussing these things, and that that in turn will lead to action that makes the sporting landscape fairer, more equal, safer sometimes for the next generation of female athletes."

Judy, who is the mother of tennis champions Sir Andy and Jamie Murray, has admitted in the past that the took up the position of captain of the illustrious British Fed Cup team in 2011 in part to raise the profile of female coaches and alleviate the sexism that she says remains in the sport.

Speaking on the morning chat-show, she added: "We're definitely getting there. There has been a big momentum behind women's sport, I think, since the London 2012 Olympics.

"But of course, women were late to the sporting party. We started a long time after the guys so it will take time to catch up, but we have to keep showing it, we have to keep putting it in-front of people and that's where I think Driving Force is so important to show kids what these women can achieve.

"And that they are role models for all those wonderful life-skills of determination, resilience, goal-setting, team-work, communication - all the things that sport can bring."

Andy Murray is currently playing at the Australian Open (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Murray, who in 2017 was presented with an OBE for services to tennis, women in sport, and charity, has admitted being proud of her two sons for their similar attitudes towards the tolerance to sexism in the field.

In 2017, her three-time Grand Slam winning son Andy famously corrected a reporter who made an arguably sexist remark during the post-Wimbledon press conference.

Judy explained: "He's [Andy] great at speaking out because he does it consistently. It has a big impact when you do it consistently, one-offs don't really get you very far.

"But it still sadly has a much bigger impact when male advocates speak out. We've brought that into the second series in a big way - many, many male contributors talking about how important it is to level the playing field."

Driving Force series two airs on ITV1 and ITV Hub from tomorrow (January 18).

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