Federer: I don’t think Murray would ever say he has been unlucky
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have joined the queue of those expressing their sadness at Andy Murray’s impending retirement.
The eight-time Wimbledon champion admitted he has been rocked by the news, while Nadal backed the Scot’s decision as the right move for his mental health. Federer said: ‘‘It hit me hard. ‘‘Of course, I’ve seen Andy struggling with his hip and with his fitness for quite some time now.
‘‘You want him to feel like he’s happy to retire. The problem is it’s not his decision, it’s the body’s decision and that naturally hurts.’’
Federer did not concur with the widespread view that Murray had been unlucky in the timing of his career, given that he was vying with the Swiss superstar, Nadal and Novak Djokovic for supremacy.
‘‘I mean, he won Wimbledon, he won the Olympics, became world No. 1. Is that unlucky? I don’t know,” said Federer.
“I always said you can have great careers side by side. I don’t think he will say that he’s been unlucky.
“I think he’s worked extremely hard, and when he got to world No. 1 or he won all those big events, he totally deserved them.
“He put in the workload and he’s an extremely talented player as well.
“He left everything out there, and I think he should be very proud.’’
A tearful Murray revealed on Friday that the pain in his hip has become too much to bear and this week’s Australian Open could be his final tournament.
Nadal, who defeated Murray in two Wimbledon semi-finals, said: “Of course it’s very bad news.
“But when he’s been suffering for such a long time, and you feel that you are not competitive for the thing that really makes you wake up every morning and go on court with the passion to practise, then it is so difficult.
“If he doesn’t feel that the thing can go better, probably he is doing the right thing for his mental health.
“It will be a very important loss for us, for the world of tennis, for the tour, for the fans, even for the rivals.
“He has been part of a great rivalry between the best players for a long time, and a great competitor. But that’s life.
“It seems like he had not a very long career,” said Nadal. “But he’s 31. Ten years ago, if he retired at 31, we would say he had a great and very long career.
“We will miss him. But today it’s him, tomorrow another one. We are not 20 any more. Our generation, everyone is more than 30.”
Nadal was a junior rival of Murray and the pair have known each other for 20 years.
“When he was a kid, he was little bit a bad boy,” said the Spaniard with a smile.
“I always had a good relationship with him. We shared the court in the most important stadiums in the world, competing for the most important things. That’s impossible to forget.”
Murray was back on court yesterday, practising with Grigor Dimitrov on Rod Laver Arena.
Tomorrow he faces Roberto Bautista Agut in the Australian Open first round, a match that could be the final act of his glittering career.
Murray has reached the final at Melbourne Park five times, but was not given top billing for his potential swansong, with the match taking place on Melbourne Arena, the second biggest court.
Spaniard Bautista Agut has never taken a set off the Scot in three previous meetings.
As tributes to Murray continued to flow in, the man whose mantle Murray took and then elevated was warm in his praise, reflecting on the Dunblane man’s long battle with his hip injury.
Tim Henman said: “With the amount of work he’d been doing – and we know how professional and diligent Andy is – 20 months is a long time.
“There are a lot of people who have felt this was going to happen at some stage.
“But it is still so sad to see him so upset.”