Andy Murray to retire after Paris Olympics


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Andy Murray has confirmed he will end his historic career after the Olympics, saying Paris 2024 will be his “last ever tennis tournament”.

It had been widely expected that the 37-year-old Scot would retire after the Games as he looked to go out at the top following an injury-plagued final chapter.

Murray was recently deprived of a Wimbledon farewell in singles after he had surgery on a spinal cyst just a week before the tournament began. He did manage a doubles match with brother Jamie but then also missed out on a mixed doubles campaign when partner Emma Raducanu dropped out at the last minute.

The three-time grand slam champion, who is the only man to have won two Olympic tennis singles gold medals, said on Instagram: “Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics.

“Competing for (Team GB) have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get do it one final time!”

Murray first represented Team GB at the Beijing Games in 2008 but it was his gold medal performance at London 2012 which kick started a purple patch in his career.

He won his first grand slam at the US Open a month later and then completed a lifelong dream by becoming the first British Wimbledon champion in 77 years in 2013.

The Scot, who led Great Britain to an historic Davis Cup victory in 2015, then won his second Wimbledon crown in 2016 and followed it up by becoming the only man to win two Olympic gold medals in singles when he topped the podium in Rio in 2016.

He then became the first British singles player ever to officially be ranked world number one on November 7, 2016, at a time when great rivals like Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic were all still active at the top of the game.

However, a chronic hip injury derailed his career and he needed a metal plate inserted into the joint in 2019.

The final few years of Murray's career were tarnished by him no longer being physically capable of achieving the level which saw him top the rankings.

At the start of this year, Murray said he planned to finish at some point in the summer, but was vague as to the exact date. He was hoping for one last Wimbledon swansong in the singles but was cruelly robbed after suffering a back injury in a warm-up event at Queen’s.

It ruled him out of singles but he was able to play doubles with his brother Jamie, but lost in the first round in a Centre Court farewell.

But he has recovered sufficiently to be fit for the singles in Paris and travelled with the rest of the Team GB squad on Monday. He has resisted the temptation to bow out at next month’s US Open, the site of his first grand slam success, announcing on Tuesday that the Roland Garros tournament would be his last.

Andy Murray - key stats

1 – Murray became the first British singles player ever to officially be ranked world number one on November 7, 2016.

3 – grand slam titles.

11 – grand slam finals.

46 – career singles titles.

3 – doubles titles.

9 – singles titles in 2016, including five in a row to end the season as world number one.

2 – Olympic singles gold medals, in addition to a mixed doubles silver with Laura Robson.

739 – tour-level matches won.

64,677,584 – career prize money, in US dollars.

29 – combined wins against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

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Updated: July 26, 2024, 10:44 AM`