The Tour – Food Court: Acai & Sushi For ‘Amazing Eater’ Murray & Soares

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares have claimed 12 tour-level titles as a duo since 2016. But when it comes to cooking skills, they might struggle to come up with a baker’s dozen worth of meals to put on the menu.

The successful British/Brazilian pairing nonetheless enjoys a wide array of cuisine and in this edition of The Tour – Food Court, ATPTour.com caught up with the doubles stars to grill them on a few of their favourites.

If you were having some buddies over for dinner, what would you cook and why?
Bruno: I don’t cook. I would order sushi because it’s my favourite food. I just love sushi, been eating sushi for a long time. It’s a big part of my diet. I think it just goes well with sports. It’s nice, healthy and light. I love it.

Jamie: I would do barbecue because that’s about the only thing I can manage. I would do steak, for sure, picanha.

Would you call yourself a good cook?
Jamie: Not at all. My wife’s an amazing cook, she cooks all the time. I just eat it.

Bruno: Jamie’s an amazing eater! (Laughs.)

Jamie: That’s my strength.

Bruno, do you have anything in your repertoire in the kitchen?
Bruno: I actually do a decent barbecue as well. That’s pretty much all I can manage. Also some very basic stuff, eggs, omelettes. Anything more complicated, I’m a no-go.

We talked about sushi being super healthy… How about the opposite? What cheat meals do you enjoy?
Jamie: I’ve got a pretty sweet tooth. Chocolates, desserts… I’d go all in for that.

Bruno: I have to control the sweets as well, like a good condensed milk, anything related to that… dulce de leche. I also like a good burger. But a burger is easier for me to control. Sweets are tough — got to keep an eye on that.

What about when you’re being careful about what you eat? Do you have a go-to meal the night before a big match, or the day of?
Jamie: The night before, as long as I get a good meal, it could be anything. It could be steak, sushi, Mexican, fish. I’m not really picky about that at all. It’s more just before we play, I don’t tend to eat things that are too heavy.

Bruno: The same for me. I think the night before, any good, healthy meal. Before the match, it really depends what time we play. If we play right after breakfast, like the first match at 11, I’ll just have my normal breakfast, which is an omelette, bread, maybe an avocado or something. And if we play after lunch, my lunch will be something lighter, maybe a bowl of rice just to get ready for the match. I won’t eat anything quite heavy.

What are your no-gos? Is there anything in particular you won’t eat?

Bruno: I don’t think there’s a food that I don’t eat, to be honest. I can eat everything. I try to avoid junky food a lot, or processed food, fast food. I feel like because I enjoy sushi so much, I kind of have a healthy diet most of the time. The other times I try not to go over the line too many times.

Jamie: Spicy foods, I can never handle that.

What about food from your country, your culture? Are there any particular dishes that you like?

Jamie: We’re not known so much for our food culture (laughs). I guess growing up I was eating a lot of salmon, Scottish salmon. Haggis, I guess.

Bruno: For me would be the acai for sure. This is a very Brazilian thing. I’ve been eating acai since I was eight, 10 years old. Super healthy, super good. Grew up with it. I try to have it every day.

It’s a berry from the amazon. It’s a fruit. There’s a lot of energy; it’s considered a super food. What we do is, you make a bowl out of it, and it’s amazing. It grows only in two parts of Brazil, in two states, and not even the whole year. It’s three months of the year that you can get it. So it’s quite an interesting process, the acai culture. I love it.

Jamie, has he gotten you into acai? 
Jamie: Yeah, I like it. It’s nice. It’s definitely a lot more common in the U.K. now than what it used to be. You don’t have to hustle that hard to find it. But I like it. It’s good stuff. 

Bruno, I understand you’re involved in an acai business? Can you tell me a little more about that?
Bruno: Like I said, I’ve been eating acai my whole life. And I’ve always wanted to invest in an acai business. Never really found anything until I had Oakberry for the first time.

I have a company myself that we have some investments back home in Brazil. When I started having Oakberry for the first time, I went there as a client, had my first bowl there. Really liked the concept.

Long story short, a couple of months after, we invested in the company. It’s been a great ride since we started with them. It’s growing quite fast. We finished last year with over 500 shops worldwide. It’s quite nice. Oakberry is part of my life now, a lot. Not only business-wise, but my diet as well.

Are you involved in the day-to-day operations?
Bruno: I’m pretty hands-on. Not day to day on the company’s daily routine. But I’m quite involved in specific projects that we do together to help the company grow.