Murray eyes a farewell at Wimbledon
ANDY Murray has given the clearest indication yet that this will be the final season of his extraordinary career after insisting he has only ‘a few months’ left. And that would seem to pave the way for an emotional swansong at Wimbledon, scene of his historic singles triumphs in 2013 and 2016, and Olympic gold in 2012. Ironically his comments came after one of his better recent wins, as he battled from behind to beat former world No 10 Denis Shapovalov in Dubai yesterday. ‘I probably don’t have too long left but I’ll do as best as I can these last few months,’ said the 36-year old Scot after a 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 win over the Canadian. ‘I still love competing and still love the game but it gets harder and harder to compete the older you get, to keep your body fit and fresh.’
Murray has endured an ugly start to the season and was on a six-match losing streak before a win in Doha last week. He then lost to 18-year-old Jakub Mensik, falling to 67th in the world as a result.
During that defeat, he appeared to tell his box: ‘This game is not for me any more’.
Asked about those comments yesterday, Murray said: ‘People read a lot into what I say on the court and it’s not always rational.’
It is clear, however, that retirement is on his mind, as he admitted at the Australian Open last month when he said: ‘I haven’t made any definite decisions but I’ve spoken to my family. They’re very aware of how I feel, where I would like to finish playing, when that would be.’
It seems likely that July at Wimbledon is the target for his farewell. The timeline of ‘a few months’ would fit, although Murray could still pull the plug earlier than that if he feels his form is not up to it.
In that context, this was an encouraging win over Shapovalov, and it was also Murray’s 500th on a hard court — an accolade shared only with Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
‘Hard courts have been a great surface for me over the years and 500 is a lot of matches,’ said Murray. ‘So, yeah, I’m very proud of that. It’s great to get that before I’m done.’
Murray had to dig deep to secure his second win of 2024. He looked set for another defeat when Shapovalov claimed the opening set.
The Scot had struggled to breach the 24-year-old’s serve, but produced a trademark gutsy display to edge a second-set tie-breaker and kept his composure to break twice in the decider to secure a much-needed win after two hours, 33 minutes.