Andy Murray was stalked around Europe by a hotel maid who once woke him by entering his bedroom and stroking his arm.  The Wimbledon and Olympic tennis champion has spoken for the first time about the unnamed woman’s behaviour. In addition to the unwanted encounter, the woman was spotted in two other hotels where Murray was staying.  Despite having a do not disturb sign on his door in the first incident, Murray said the maid let herself in and approached his bed before perching by his side and touching him.  The 29-year-old disclosed the behaviour, which he described as “extreme”, in response to a question about the craziest thing his fans had done.  In an interview promoting the International Premier Tennis League, Murray said: “At one of the tournaments I played, a maid in the hotel … I had a do not disturb sign on the door, and she came in and sat on my bed and started stroking my arm at about seven in the morning when I was still sleeping, and then turned up at a couple more tournaments in the hotels I was staying at in Rotterdam and Barcelona. I don’t know if that’s a fan thing – that’s a bit extreme – but that happened.”  Tennis professionals spend much of the year living in hotels, away from home. Murray did not name the hotel or city in which the first encounter with the woman occurred or say when it took place.  The Guardian understands that, particularly early in his career, Murray wanted to keep his security arrangements low-key and live as normal a life as possible while avoiding media attention, although this has become far harder as his profile has risen. A spokesman for Murray declined to comment.  Murray’s comments came as concerns about celebrity security are under the spotlight after the robbery of Kim Kardashian West in Paris on Sunday.  The men’s and women’s tennis tours have tightened security around tournaments in recent years, with leading women particularly having been targeted by suspected stalkers.  The Guardian understands that Murray’s team reported the incident to the ATP at the time.  A spokesman for the ATP said: “The ATP takes any breach in player security extremely seriously. All players are encouraged to report any incident involving a stalker or unwanted attention to the ATP director of security, who will assist the player and his team in reporting such an incident to the appropriate authorities in the jurisdiction that it occurred.”  Murray proved his fitness on Tuesday as he advanced to the second round of the China Open. The world No2 was playing his first match since his Davis Cup win over Guido Pella a fortnight ago, where he suffered a thigh injury, and he achieved a 6-2 7-5 win over Andreas Seppi.  There were doubts whether Murray would compete in Beijing after the injury in Glasgow came at the end of a punishing schedule that saw him lose only four matches after the end of May.  But, with a shot at the No1 ranking in mind and no Novak Djokovic in the draw, Murray stuck to his itinerary and got the job done in straight sets against the Italian.  After an even start, Murray, the top seed, took the game by the scruff of the neck by reeling off four successive games that earned him the first set. A double fault handed Seppi a break early in the second set but Murray was able to recover the situation and after breaking back to take it to 2-2, he delivered another, decisive blow, at 6-5 to claim victory.  He said: “I thought I did OK considering I hadn’t played much the last couple of weeks. I didn’t arrive here until a couple of days ago. I think I can play better.  “But there was some good stuff in there. With each match I’ll play better hopefully. It was the first time I practised on centre court, and played on centre court today. So I wasn’t that used to the speed of the court and how it felt out there. But I felt OK, my body felt fine. There’s no injuries, I felt healthy. I just need matches now.”  Murray will play Konstantin Kravchuk or Andrey Kuznetsov in the second round, with a potential match against the British No2 Kyle Edmund in the quarter-finals.
The Wimbledon champion says ‘fan’ entered his bedroom, stroked his arm and followed him to two other tournaments