Andy Murray to host charity tennis event in Glasgow

British No 1 Andy Murray has launched his own annual charity tennis event to begin in Glasgow this year.

The 28-year-old will stage the inaugural 'Andy Murray Live' at Glasgow's SSE Hydro on September 21 - with all money raised going to UNICEF and Young People's Futures, a local charity.

Murray announced his new initiative at a press conference at Wimbledon on Friday morning, where it was also revealed the two-time Grand Slam winner will become an official UNICEF ambassador.

Speaking at the event, Murray said he owed it to his fans in the city of his birth to hold such an event there - he will face world No 14 Gael Monfils in a singles match before teaming up with his brother Jamie to take on Monfils and Tim Henman in a doubles event.

"It's great to be returning home to Scotland and playing in the city of Glasgow," he said.

"I travel the world playing tennis and unfortunately I don't spend as much time as I would like to at home. I owe it to my fans who have supported me throughout the years and what better way than to play in front of them at the SSE Hydro whilst raising money for Young People's Futures and UNICEF.

"I'm looking forward to bringing top-level tennis to Glasgow on an annual basis and making this event bigger and better every year."

There was a suggestion that the venue for 'Andy Murray Live' could change in future years, while Murray revealed he is hoping to have comedians and other entertainers involved on the night.

Murray was also keen to keep tickets at an accessible price, with the news no ticket will cost over £25 for the event, as he added: "We spoke about it a bit and it was trying to encourage families to come along.

"Tennis is known in this country to be a very expensive sport and not always that accessible at times so hopefully the pricing of the tickets will help with that and a lot of youngsters and families will be able to come along and watch."

UNICEF UK's deputy executive director Lily Caprani was in attendance at Wimbledon and spoke warmly of Murray's work with the organisation.

"Andy has been a great supporter of UNICEF for a number of years and has raised a lot of money and awareness for incredibly important causes," she said.

"People may be aware of recent Andy's Aces initiative. It was Andy's idea and he was very moved by reports of children who were fleeing from conflict zone in Syria and other war zones and becoming refugees and travelling through Europe in terrible circumstances.

"We are excited to announce that Andy has agreed to step-up his commitment even further and become and official ambassador for UNICEF UK and making a long-term commitment and joining the ranks of the likes of Sir Chris Hoy, fellow Scotsman Ewan McGregor and David Beckham - our really high-profile ambassadors who do so much to raise a huge amount of awareness for us."