Maggie May, Andy Murray’s Border Terrier, writes for The Tennis Space:

Let’s get this straight. I’m not your ordinary tennis player’s dog. I don’t even like tennis balls for a start. I’ll chew them, sure, and rip them to pieces – but don’t even think about asking me to fetch. I have people to do that for me these days.

I enjoy the grass-court season, though. It means I have the household staff on call pretty much full time, and lots of visitors come and go, which is great. Ivan Lendl came round for dinner the other night which I was pretty excited about. I’m a soft touch when it comes to men, you see. I flirted my Border Terrier socks off and even allowed him on my sofa, but he didn’t let me kiss his face which I thought pretty harsh. Maybe it’s a Czech thing?

I’m not au fait with European customs. Rusty and I visited Paris last month, which was very exciting as it was our first time abroad. Everyone there was so accommodating; they really seem to love dogs in France. I’d like to say we were on our best behavior but picking a fight with Daniel Nestor’s coach’s miniature dachshund in the hotel lobby on our last day probably blotted our copybook, so we were sent home before the tennis started. Apparently Pierre Djokovic travels everywhere, but I’ve been told that unless Rusty and I agree to sit in a handbag we can’t be trusted in the player’s lounge. That definitely wouldn’t work as Rusty likes to chew handbags.

So for now we’re happy to be at home; we get to jump on Dad’s face in the morning and there are plenty of socks and ankle braces to play with. It also means we get loads of long walks in our favourite spots – I’m not one to kiss and tell but I did get propositioned by a footballer’s Bulldog in our local woods a couple of months back.  Wimbledon Common is probably the place to be seen during the next few weeks, although if I’m honest I’ll be trying to keep a low profile. The place is usually crawling with paparazzi and swimming in the pond there does awful things to my hair.

I’m not expecting an invite to the All England Club as apparently they have a strict no-animals policy, although a little bird told me that a bigger bird (Rufus the Hawk) holds a permanent position there as official pigeon-chaser. Rusty is great at chasing birds however and I would be more than willing to let them have him indefinitely.