The Murray matriarch celebrated by retweeting spoof account Judy the Penguin: “There was me thinking if it all fell through with @MontyThePenguin then there was still @andy_murray to waddle down the aisle with me...”
So here is all you need to know about tennis’s latest wife.
1 She is not Kate Middleton. Although they do have a lot in common — enviable hair, a first name that begins with K, a good British private girls’ boarding school education and a long relationship with a public figure who took his time to propose.
2 Sussex is her stomping ground. She grew up in Barcombe and the raucous Lewes bonfire night celebration is the highlight of her year. So let’s hope it wasn’t too awkward for her and her Scottish independence-supporting beau when an effigy of Alex Salmond was blown up during this November’s celebrations.
3 Tennis is in her blood. Her father, Nigel Sears, is a women’s tennis coach who trained Slovakian Daniela Hantuchová and plays the drums in his spare time. Judy Murray approves of Sears senior, saying: “[Kim’s] father is a top coach, so she’s grown up with an understanding of the life that Andy now leads.”
4 Kim prefers running to ball games — there’s too much competition on the tennis court. She ran the marathon this year, raising £13,251.53 for the charity Malaria No More.
5 It was Nigel who introduced her to Murray. She was 18 and they were all at a party in South Africa, where her mother, Leonore, is from.
6 Andy Murray may have told TV presenter Holly Willoughby they didn’t know each other well enough for him to announce an engagement to Sears live on television last year but Willoughby and Sears went to the same school — Burgess Hill in Sussex, where fees are £26,220 a year. Willoughby, aged 33, was a few years above.
7 The school was not best pleased when they saw her on the front pages of the papers in 2006 supporting Andy in San Jose. She had been skiving and said: “I went away thinking ‘It’s fine because he’s never going to win so I’ll be back in time for school on Monday’ and then he did!
8 Murray is supportive, posing for a painting to go in his girlfriend’s art A-level coursework portfolio. She got A grades in music, art and drama A-levels before studying English literature at Sussex University.
9 Now she says “it’s all about Andy” but she had her moment in the limelight, starring in school plays and doing work experience on GMTV. Murray has said: “She wants to have her own career, not just pose in Hello! magazine.”
10 Graduating in a recession was hard for Sears. It took her two years to find a job, searching in the retail sector before she decided to concentrate on art full-time.
11 She is modest, saying: “I view my painting first as a hobby, which has fortunately grown enough for me to take more seriously.”
12 Her taste in art is broad but she enjoys creating “paintings that are bold, upbeat and meaningful (and often very large)”. That means lots of portraits of dogs and a few of soft-drink cans too.
13 She is an aspiring novelist. On her website she writes: “Right now, I don’t think I’m disciplined enough.” Blogging is as close as she has come “and I’m not very good at that”.
14 Fifty Shades of Grey left this English literature graduate cold. She says it is “quite impossible to prepare yourself for what lies inside”. Her brother, who is studying in Idaho, stumbled across it on the family kindle and her mother has read it too, which is “worse still”.
15 Far more enjoyable is Jilly Cooper. She reads the Rutshire Chronicles at least once a year.
16 She is resourceful — using a clothes peg to hold together her copy of Jilly Cooper’s Polo when it fell apart through over-reading.
17 The love, or rather loves, of her life are border terriers Maggie and Rusty. Mags is named after the Rod Stewart song Maggie May and has her own Twitter account. Rusty is more relaxed, enjoying cups of tea.
18 It hasn’t always been easy for her and Andy. They separated for seven months in 2009 but she had custody of Maggie to cheer her up.
19 She describes herself as “a serial killer” — of both orchids and goldfish. She calls them “two of the highest-maintenance things in life”.
20 She gives great tennis face: cheering, cringing and occasionally crying.
21 More than 500,000 people searched for “Kim Sears” on Google during Wimbledon.
22 Her hair has a dedicated Twitter fan account, KimSearsHair, with 685 followers. A typical tweet: “If hair could look nervous right now ...”
23 The Sears effect is powerful.
A Zara dress sold out after she wore it to Wimbledon, and there was a waiting list for the mint-green lace Victoria Beckham ensemble she chose. Hairdresser Charles Worthington says: “The Kim” is one of the most requested looks at his salon.
24 She has style. It has rubbed off on Andy too. She mixes high street with high end, combining Hobbs, Reiss and Zara with the occasional Mulberry or Burberry statement piece. Her trademark wedge sandals are from Aldo.
25 Andy likes Eminem but Sears prefers Classic FM. She fantasises about being a country music star because she likes its values. And she loves a cowboy hat.
26 She makes fantastic cupcakes.
27 She drinks, unlike Andy, who she calls “a little bit of a lightweight”.
28 Judy Murray is a fan. She says Kim is “fabulous” and has helped Andy develop as a player and a person. They have a hoot together — going to the theatre, watching The Apprentice and sitting on the edge of the Jacuzzi while Andy has ice baths. The only taboo subject is tennis.
29 Her good taste in interior design was put to use masterminding the revamp of the Murray family’s new hotel, Cromlix House, near Dunblane. She also decorated her and Andy’s £5 million house in Oxshott, Surrey.
30 She’s popular. A source close to Team Murray has said that she has been good for the tennis player, helping him express a softer side: “Kim is the perfect tennis girlfriend.
source: standard.co.uk