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Andy Murray heads into retirement after Olympic doubles loss to American duo
Updated On: 02 August, 2024 08:08 PM IST | Paris | AP
"I`m glad I got to go out here at the Olympics and finish on my terms," he said, "because at times in the last few years, that wasn`t a certainty"
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Britain`s Andy Murray waves goodbye after playing with Britain`s Daniel Evans against US` Taylor Fritz and US` Tommy Paul in their men`s doubles quarter-final tennis match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris. Pic/AFP
Tears welled in Andy Murray`s eyes as he walked alone onto the court to wave goodbye to professional tennis, his career over after a loss in the Paris Olympics doubles quarterfinals. The 37-year-old Murray had said the 2024 Summer Games would be his last event, and he and partner Dan Evans were beaten by the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-4 at Court Suzanne Lengle Thursday night. "I knew that moment was coming for the last few months. If it didn`t happen today, that was going to be in a couple days` time, and I was ready for it. Obviously, I was emotional, because it`s the last time I will play a competitive match. But I am genuinely happy, just now. I`m happy with how it`s finished," said Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion and the only player in tennis history with two Summer Games singles golds. "I`m glad I got to go out here at the Olympics and finish on my terms," he said, "because at times in the last few years, that wasn`t a certainty."
Murray has dealt with a series of injuries in the latter stages of his career, including needing two hip operations, one for a metal implant in 2019. Most recently, he had surgery to remove a cyst from his spine in June, forcing him to pull out of singles at Wimbledon and the Olympics; he only entered doubles at both. "The pain and discomfort in my body is not good, and that`s also why I`m happy to be finishing. If I kept going and kept trying, eventually you end up having an injury potentially ending your career," Murray said. "So I know that now`s the right time. Physically, it`s been really hard." The British pair had managed to stave off a total of seven match points " well, in this case, let`s call them "retirement points" " earlier in the tournament, five in the first round and then two more in the second round, to extend Murray`s career. But Murray and Evans could not create that sort of magic again against the third-seeded Fritz and Paul. "Those guys were good today. That`s the bottom line," Evans said.
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