‘If today was my last match then it was a brilliant finish’
the state of his right hip but this was a remarkable performance for a man who admits he struggles to put his shoes and socks on.
The capacity crowd – which included his brother Jamie, who cannot normally bring himself to sit through Andy’s matches – roared Murray on and dared to dream of a miracle as he defied the pain to force a deciding set before the effort finally became too much.
The tournament had prepared a montage of Murray’s fellow players paying tribute to him, but that struck a slightly awkward note after the 31-year-old said he would do everything he could to try to play at the Australian Open again.
If he is to do so, Murray must have a resurfacing operation, which could end up giving him another chance on court but could also finish his career for good.
If he decides not to have the operation yet, then he will aim to play on the grass, finishing off his career at Wimbledon.
He said: “I’ll probably decide in the next week or so. If I go ahead with the operation, I don’t recover well from it, then I don’t play again. I’m aware of that.
“It will improve my quality of life, I’ll be in less pain doing just normal things like walking around and putting your shoes and socks on.
“Just now, going to walk my dogs, playing football with my friends, is like the worst thing I can think of doing. Waiting another five or six months to do something like that is just another period where I’m really uncomfortable.
“I just don’t really know yet. But, if today was my last match, it was a brilliant way to finish. That’s something that I’ll probably take into consideration, as well.
“It was an amazing atmosphere. I literally gave everything that I had on the court, fought as best as I could, and performed a lot better than what I should have done with the amount I’ve been able to practise. I’d be okay with that being my last match.”
It was a practice match against Novak Djokovic on Thursday that really set the alarm bells ringing, but Murray was able to find a much better level against a high-class and dogged opponent in Bautista Agut.
“Today I knew it was potentially the last match I would play,” said Murray. “I don’t care if I damage my hip any more in the match, so it’s a bit easier to deal with the pain because I know that I don’t have to hit balls tomorrow.”
The Djokovic practice was followed on Friday by the emotional press conference at