Andy Murray’s Wimbledon Q&A about hamsters and on-court toilet mishaps is brilliantly honest

'He said it and then laughed, so I laughed as well'

Andy Murray shakes hands after defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy in the third round of Wimbledon, Saturday 4 July, 2015 (AP)

Andy Murray has been criticised in the past for his off-court manner, with words like “dour”, “boring” and “monotonous” sometimes bandied about.

But behind that deadpan demeanour is a strange kind of comedy genius – particularly if his latest Q & A for BBC Sport is anything to go by.

Ahead of his fourth-round match against Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic on Monday, the Scot revealed that he fell asleep watching Heather Watson’s narrow loss to Serena Williams – despite really being “into” the match.

Asked about his preference for pets after his two dogs, Murray called it a “good question”, and said: “I had a hamster when I was a kid, called Whisky. He escaped down the floorboards never to be seen again and I was absolutely devastated.”

Though it’s something we’ve all done at one point or another, few of us would admit very publically to laughing along to a joke we missed.

Not Murray though, who said of his interaction with Andreas Seppi at the end of their third-round match: “I didn't really hear exactly what he said, but he said it and then laughed, so I laughed as well.”

Medical time-outs and toilet breaks have become something of a point of contention in recent years, with players accused of using them tactically to break up the rhythm of play.

Murray agreed rules should be tighter on how the stoppages can be used, but warned against going too far. He said: “Sometimes we play for four or five hours and you're drinking so many fluids, you can't get rid of them altogether - what if someone needs to go? You don't want to see what might happen on the court!”

The British number 1 has some form when it comes to using his media presence to have a bit of a laugh. In his column on Friday, he claimed that fellow British player James Ward was a huge Taylor Swift fan and when they trained in Miami “that was all he was playing”.

Ward has since said that was completely made up, part of a running joke between the pair and Murray’s wife Kim Sears about who is better out of Swift and Arianna Grande.

And last year, when Wimbledon’s promoters asked the world’s tennis stars how they eat their strawberries, most replied either “with cream”, “with sugar” or something similar. Murray’s response, “with my fingers”, is deadpan at its finest.