Andy Murray joked that retirement has hit him hard just two weeks after calling time on his tennis career. The Scot hung up his racket after a thrilling double act with Dan Evans at the Olympics.
Murray has already provided several hints about what his post-tennis career will look like. After losing in the Wimbledon doubles alongside his brother Jamie, the 37-year-old suggested he could end up in a coaching role.
On social media, Murray has revealed he is playing more golf and quipped that he “never even liked tennis anyway” just hours after his defeat at the Olympics.
But Murray is clearly missing tennis and has joked that retirement is as difficult as he expected in an Instagram post. The two-time Wimbledon champion posted a picture of himself wearing a face mask, looking expressionless at the camera.
The caption said: “I knew retirement was going to hit me hard.”
An incredible Olympics campaign saw Team GB duo Murray and Evans defeat their Japanese and Belgian counterparts. They overcame several match points in both to come from behind and win.
But the experienced pair were ultimately defeated by Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in the quarter-final. The 6-4 6-2 reverse meant Murray bowed out having come so close to giving himself the opportunity to win a final Olympic medal.
There were plenty of tears afterwards, with Murray waving goodbye to a crowd as a tennis player for one final time. He needed only a few hours to change his long-time X bio from “I play tennis” to “I played tennis”.
Murray ended his career with three Grand Slams – including two at Wimbledon and one at the US Open – two Olympic golds and 46 career titles. Earlier this year, he had promised to retire in the summer and later confirmed that he would step away from the court after the Olympics.
Hip resurfacing surgery in 2019 limited Murray’s mobility in the final five years of his career. His final Wimbledon was nearly curtailed by a spinal cyst in the weeks prior to the tournament.
Murray said of his retirement after the Olympics: “A few months ago I wasn’t looking forward to it. But then I had the surgery at Queen’s and at that point I was struggling to walk, it really was an emergency surgery.
“So I’ve been looking forward to the end since then because physically it’s been tough because I’m not able to move around the court and do what I want to do physically and therefore can’t compete at the level that I want to.”
