| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July |
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Andy Murray said it was “brilliant” to be watched at Wimbledon by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who last year revealed how watching his 2016 title win had given her rare joy in prison.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national, spent six years in an Iranian jail on spying charges – which she denied – and was released last year.
“I wanted to invite her to come along and watch the tennis in totally different circumstances,” Murray said.
“I’m glad she could make it.”
Former world number one Murray, 36, helped arrange for Zaghari-Ratcliffe to attend the All England Club on Tuesday.
She sat in the Royal Box behind the Princess of Wales and eight-time men’s champion Roger Federer during Murray’s first-round win over fellow Briton Ryan Peniston.
Nine months after her release – which came following a sustained campaign – she met Murray and told him she had been “ecstatic” to see him win his second Wimbledon title.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in solitary confinement for months, separated from her husband and young daughter, when in 2016 her Iranian jailers granted her access to a TV with two channels – one showing Iranian soaps, the other Wimbledon tennis matches.
She revealed the story in a Radio 4 Today programme she was guest editing last year.
“It felt like a connection, it felt like escape,” said Zaghari-Ratcliffe. “I was close to home all of a sudden.”
More than six years later, she shared the personal significance of that match with Murray and finally managed to see him play at Wimbledon in real life.
“It was brilliant she was able to come along,” said Murray, who said he saw her again after the match.
“It was very emotional talking to her and hearing her story. It was her first time here and I’m glad she could make it.”
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