Andy Murray says he does not agree with the chauvinistic comments made by fellow BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) nominee Tyson Fury but believes in the boxing world champion’s right to express his views.

Murray, who has spoken out about equality issues all year, responding to criticism directed towards his female coach Amelie Mauresmo, is regarded by many as a feminist since he stood on centre court at the Australian Open dedicating his run to the final to the Frenchwoman and remarking that “women can be very good coaches as well”.

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Asked what his reaction was to Fury’s recent statements, which included the British boxer saying that “a woman’s best place is in the kitchen”, the Scot said: “I wouldn’t say I’ve spoken up about feminism, it’s more about everyone being equal. That’s what I feel. I think everyone should be treated exactly the same. But also we live in a world that is a democracy, people are free to say and do whatever they want. 

“Doesn’t mean that I agree with it, or everyone has to agree with it. But that’s what I believe. I don’t agree with everything that he said but I still believe he has the right to say it and people have the right to disagree with him.”

Murray and Fury are amongst 12 athletes who are up for the BBC award and the Scot World No.2 will be attending the ceremony on December 20 where the results will be announced.

“I have no idea who would win this. There’s been a lot of good performances this year, many different athletes in many different sports. It’s going to be nice. I’m looking forward to going with pretty much all of the Davis Cup team which should be good fun.

“They’ve moved the dates around a little bit later in the year which has helped because I’ve missed it the last few years because I’ve always been in the middle of training in Miami. A couple of my family are going over, it’ll be nice to see them and I’m sure we’ll have a good night,” said the Davis Cup champion.