When a surprise Instagram message from one of the most famous surnames on the international tennis circuit landed in private chef Jonny Marsh’s inbox, he had no idea it would lead to some of the best weeks of his career. 

Nicknamed the “football feeder” after carving out a career fuelling some of the game’s most beloved players, the Leigh native, 35, has worked inside professional sportsmen’s kitchens ever since a Manchester City player liaison officer headhunted him over a decade ago. 

However, the chance to feed Jamie Murray for two weeks while he competed on the grass at Wimbledon was an extraordinary opportunity, even for the likes of Jonny, whose previous clients included Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Curtis Jones and Aaron Ramsey. 

Admittedly apprehensive about taking on the challenge, what awaited him – and his wife, Scottish professional footballer Claire Emsley, who came along for the trip – was nothing like the gruelling job he had initially expected. 

With an all-access, behind-the-scenes look inside a world he had yet to conquer, the chef arrived in south west London and was handed the key to some of the most exclusive courts in the world – all he had to do was keep a hungry Jamie fed and watered. 

A DM slide and a golden ticket 

“Honestly, it was one of the best two weeks I’ve ever had cooking,” Jonny exclusively told HELLO!. “It was a brand new sport for me and a completely different experience.”

The chef, who trained at Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin-star hotel Le Manoir and cooked on superyachts for high-net-worth families before becoming a chef to athletes, revealed how his two weeks with the former doubles world number one came about. 

“He approached me on Instagram randomly. He’s a big football fan and had seen me cook for players. It was about four or five years ago now; he messaged me and said, ‘I’m looking for a chef over the two weeks that I’m doing Wimbledon. Is it possible that you can come down here?’

“I was like, ‘This is going to be quite a tough job’, and then the first day I did it, I thought, ‘Whoa, I’ve hit the jackpot here’, because he didn’t want any of his team cooked for, it was just him. He had a physio, a masseuse, there were about three or four of them that lived with him, and he was like, ‘All I want is food for me’.” 

The brother of the two-time Wimbledon men’s singles title winner, Andy Murray, offered up his spare room to Jonny as lodgings; however, the chef declined and booked a hotel instead. 

“He was like, ‘Don’t worry, you can live here for two weeks’, but I said I’d get a hotel. I didn’t want to live with him for 24 hours a day. I took my wife down. 

“We went to Wimbledon on the first Sunday when it was closed, and there were no games, so it was just everyone practising, and we went into the practise area with all the players. We met Nadal, we saw Federer, Djokovic, we watched Jamie and Andy Murray play – it was amazing! That Sunday was one of the best Sundays I’ve ever had.” 

Meeting the Murrays  

While Jonny received the full VIP treatment, his trip down south wasn’t all fun and no hard work. He remembered the job included some frighteningly early starts and busy mornings in the star’s home kitchen. 

Claiming Jamie was “one of the best” people he has worked with to date, the chef shared his former day in the life cooking for him. 

“I would get up at like 3:30 / four in the morning – it was a super early start as he was quite an early riser – and the brief would come in, I’d cook them breakfast, make sure the evening meals were ready for after the games or before games and prep snacks, smoothies, juices, that sort of thing. 

“I had a key to his house. I’d have to be super quiet, I’d have to save certain things for when he was up, and then I was done by eight am, and he was just like, ‘Yep, the day’s your own, you can do what you want.'” 

Still in awe of the player’s generosity as he remembered his stint with him, he shared that Jamie offered the chef and his wife free special passes to roam around Wimbledon every day, picking and choosing where they sat and who they watched as they pleased. 

“We had Centre Court seats, we watched him play and Nadal, etc. – it was unbelievable. It was one of the best jobs and perks I’ve ever had over two weeks.” 

The expert’s hot take on World Cup meals 

Reverting to his area of expertise after his time at the tennis, Jonny continued to work with footballers and still does – listing Aaron Ramsey as his greatest challenge and Ilkay Gundogan as the easiest player to cook for. Ahead of this year’s FIFA World Cup 2026, the expert guessed what diet would be deemed MVP of performance-enhancing nutrition for players. 

“Ginger and turmeric are very anti-inflammatory; they’re staples within everybody’s diet in terms of being an athlete, but I think that carnivore diet is creeping into football big time now,” he told us. 

Jonny continued: “I’ve noticed players go very heavy on protein and steak, red meat especially. Years ago, there was a bit of a taboo about it, but now, all of a sudden, it’s split the other way. I’ll be cooking steak two or three times a week for people. There’s a lot of iron deficiencies as well that I cook for, so it’s always trying to bring that up to a better and safer level. I think that’ll be a sort of dark horse.”