Judy Murray has revealed how years of critical comments prevented her from stepping forward to congratulate her son Andy when he won his first Wimbledon title in 2013.

After overcoming Novak Djokovic in a tense final, Murray climbed up towards the player box to embrace his wife and members of his backroom team. But he didn't see Judy, who was sitting a couple of rows further back, and he only turned back to share his triumph with her after fans started shouting "What about your mum?"

Murray was already Great Britain's Fed Cup captain at this point, so her expertise as a coach and was not in doubt. But her gender led to her being stereotyped as a "Tiger mum" when a male parent would have been accepted far more readily.

During a revealing interview with Tennis Podcast co-host Catherine Whitaker, Judy Murray explained that "I moved myself out of the player box [because] I had been so uncomfortable during the semi-final with people clapping beside me or shouting for somebody else.

"Then he wins, and he starts to climb up to celebrate with everybody, and because I had moved myself back, he doesn't see me in the player box. He doesn't know where I am and starts to climb back down.

"And the reason I didn't [step forward] was because of all the years of being criticised for being a pushy mum, overbearing, over-competitive - all of this that I had to put up with from the media for so many years. And I thought I can't go down there, because I'll just get it again: 'There she is, pushing herself in etc etc.'"

One of the most prominent voices of criticism had been Boris Becker, who had said after Murray's loss in the 2011 Australian Open final that he should "ditch" his mum. In a recent BBC interview, Judy revealed that she had not gone out for three days after that comment, and had never been able to forgive Becker.

In her interview with the Tennis Podcast, which is recorded in partnership with Telegraph Sport, Murray told Whitaker "I became more confident to speak out after Andy won. [The people who criticised me] didn't know me, didn't know the journey we had been on, don't understand how much in an individual sport the parent has to make everything happen for the child.

"If my kids had chosen to play a team sport, they would have been signed up by a club, and the club would have taken care of everything. But in an individual sport, you need somebody to take care of the logistics, somebody you have to trust, so of course I was around a lot

"But I did come in for an incredible amount of criticism from very many quarters just for being around, and there were times when I thought 'Wow, I am getting it in the neck here just for supporting my kids.' But now he had won Wimbledon I felt able to answer back at some of the people who had criticised me."

Meanwhile, women's tennis will be represented on Tuesday at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton when the Progress Tour Women's Championships begin at 11am. The format is similar to that of last month's all-male Battle of the Brits, only on a larger scale, with four groups of four singles players and two groups of four doubles partnerships.

The late withdrawal on Monday of Heather Watson (foot injury) and Harriet Dart (groin injury) leaves Katie Swan as top seed and Katie Boulter as the tournament favourite.