A Wimbledon statue of Andy Murray would be a catastrophe — just look at how Melania’s turned out

The new mixed doubles partnership of Andy Murray and Serena Williams was an unexpected delight at this year’s Wimbledon, and now the two-time men’s singles winner is considering the next step on his road to full recovery from hip surgery. It may be that Murray never plays a five-set singles match in a Grand Slam again, but he certainly seems a happier, more relaxed person after an enforced lay-off.

The All England Club says it would like to honour the former champion by commissioning a statue or a bust – but only after he has definitely retired.

Please, can they not do this? In fact, I’d like to declare a moratorium on all proposed public statues of contemporary icons.

Are statues really the best way to dignify and respect a unique talent? In recent years, statues honouring leading sports people have been utterly banal and pedestrian: the 2017 bronze effigy of Cristiano Ronaldo in Madeira looked more like comic strip footballer Roy Race. Amateur sculptor Emanuel Santos has since taken another crack at it, but the result was equally poor. Elsewhere, the statue honouring Liverpool star Mo Salah was widely compared with Seventies pop star Leo Sayer when it was unveiled in Egypt at the end of last year.

Now, Melania Trump has been “honoured” (carved out of a tree trunk and displayed in her home town of Sevnica, Slovenia) and the result is so bonkers that some people reckon it’s a sophisticated joke.

American artist Brad Downey commissioned local folk artist Ales Zupevc to fashion an effigy of the first lady using a chainsaw. Wooden Melania is wearing the power blue Ralph Lauren dress and gloves she chose for the president’s inauguration ceremony, with one arm raised in a stiff power salute. The statue could have looked like one of those rumbustious mermaids that adorned old sailing ships, but sadly the result is something closer to the Wicker Man crossed with a giant clothes peg.

So, why not name a practice court or a tea room after Murray instead? Rod Laver gave his name to the main arena used for the Australian Open. That seems like afar safer choice.