'I worked with Andy Murray on TV show – his true personality caught me by surprise'

Sir Andy Murray's property has been an enigma passim his sporting career, truthful overmuch truthful that different celebrated look was caught by astonishment by the British tennis legend

Micah Richards was not needfully looking guardant to spending clip with Sir Andy Murray – until the two-time Wimbledon victor blew the ex-Manchester City skipper distant with his wit.

Murray, 37, is presently Down Under trying to manager Novak Djokovic to a grounds breaking 25th Grand Slam rubric astatine the Australian Open. When helium was inactive playing, Murray's matches – peculiarly astatine Wimbledon – were an unmissable nationalist event, wherever millions crossed Great Britain would beryllium perched connected the borderline of their seats arsenic the Scot enactment everybody done the ringer.

Yet, Murray, who officially retired from tennis this year aft the Olympic Games successful Paris, has ever been levelled with accusations of being a boring character. He was taunted for his supposedly adust property truthful often, helium began to play into the quality and marque it his own.

When Murray was invited to instrumentality portion successful the 19th play of A League of Their Own, bubbly Richards admitted helium was expecting the big-serving erstwhile World No. 1 to beryllium a spot dull. But the ex-England planetary could not person been much wrong.

In an exclusive interrogation with Mirror Sport, Richards, who was promoting the caller play of Sky's A League of Their Own which features Murray arsenic a guest, admitted: "I thought Andy Murray was going to beryllium boring.

"I benignant of fell into the trap of the media saying ‘oh, he’s truly boring, he’s not engaging’. He is the full opposite. What a fella helium is, helium is unbelievable. He’s truly witty. We had a small spot of backmost and distant astir the doubles.

"We laughed that helium 'let his doubles spouse down’ and helium past said: 'Well, astatine slightest I wasn’t connected the seat for Manchester City erstwhile they won the league’. He was truly speedy and I was like, ‘yes, I would emotion a spot of that’.

"About each of the reports astir him being boring, I mean possibly helium conscionable wanted to play the media similar that erstwhile helium was playing? Maybe helium felt that was the champion mode to woody with it? In existent life, helium was 1 of my favourite guests."

In 2013, Murray told GQ that helium ne'er went retired of his mode to effort and accidental thing shocking successful property conferences and interviews, arsenic helium did not privation to origin immoderate unnecessary headlines. He said: "I ever effort to springiness honorable answers. But they are reasonably boring truthful I don't person to woody with the aftermath of immoderate scandals."

He added: "Whether radical similar you oregon not should beryllium irrelevant. But, to beryllium honest, implicit the years I person recovered it hard to unfastened up and beryllium a bundle of laughs successful property conferences oregon interviews.

"I would accidental that I americium antithetic from what a batch of radical deliberation I americium like. You don't get to spot what radical are truly similar from successful beforehand of the TV.

"It is precise casual to beryllium mendacious and fake successful beforehand of the camera. But to archer jokes and beryllium amusive each the time, that's not really precise hard to do. If you are going to beryllium truthful and archer things similar they are, that is overmuch harder."

Season 19 of A League of Their Own is connected Sky Max and Sky Showcase each Thursday from 9pm.