"I wanted her to watch in different circumstances" - Andy Murray on why he invited Iranian political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to Wimbledon

Andy Murray has stated that he was happy to see controversial author Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe able to watch him play live at Wimbledon instead of from her prison cell.

Playing in the first round of the tournament, Murray beat fellow Brit Ryan Peniston, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1, to kick off his 2023 Wimbledon campaign with a dominating win. Murray was also watched by the Princess of Wales, and Roger Federer from the Royal Box of the Centre Court.

Born in Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian national and was detained in Iran in 2016. She was sentenced to five years in prison after she was found guilty of plotting a move to topple the Iranian government.

Despite her initial sentence ending in 2021, the author was sentenced to one more year in prison. Earlier this year, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was finally released by Iran.

During her time in prison, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's request for a TV was granted, and she watched a couple of Wimbledon matches, including Andy Murray's title-winning run in 2016.

"It felt like a connection, it felt like escape," said Zaghari-Ratcliffe. "I was close to home all of a sudden," she said in a Radio 4 Today programme last year.

In the post-match press conference, Murray said how the author revealed her story to him which prompted the former World No. 1 to invite her and watch tennis in a "different circumstance."

"Well, firstly, she hadn't been to Wimbledon before. After, yeah, I spoke with her, and the story she told me about watching my Wimbledon final while she was in a cell, yeah, I felt like I wanted to invite her to come along and watch the tennis in totally different circumstances," Murray said.

The Brit further hoped that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had enjoyed her time watching Wimbledon tennis from the Royal Box.

"Hopefully, yeah, a much more enjoyable experience. Yeah, that was what I felt after speaking to her. I wanted to see if we could get her to come along," he added.

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Andy Murray advances to 2R of Wimbledon, will take on either Dominic Thiem or Stefanos Tsitsipas

Day Two: The Championships - Wimbledon 2023

Andy Murray will take on either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Dominic Thiem in the second round of Wimbledon 2023.

The match between Tsitsipas and Thiem was interrupted due to rain on the second day and had to be canceled for the day. At the time of the play being suspended, Thiem had won the first set while Tsitsipas was leading in the second.

Murray was asked by media after his match if he would watch them play, to which the two-time Wimbledon champion responded that he was not aware of their timing.

"Well, I don't know when they're playing. I don't know what the schedule is. I'm practicing at 1:00 tomorrow, so I guess there's a chance they might be playing at that time."

Andy Murray last won a Wimbledon title in 2016, when he defeated Milos Raonic in the final of the Grand Slam.