Andy Murray has insisted he has yet to make a decision over his retirement this summer. “When the time is right, I will stop,” he said. The triple Grand Slam champion said in February that his career was coming to a close and he was “likely not going to play past this summer”.
But the former world No.1, now 37, then ruptured his ankle ligaments in March and has only played two events before facing Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the French Open today (Sunday).
During his rehab from injury, the Scot switched rackets from Head to Yonex – the first change of his pro career. It does not appear the action of a man about to hang up his racket for good.
But Murray, who could yet say his farewells at Wimbledon, said: “When the time is right, I will stop. I don’t know if I will play past the summer. The results I have been having are not what I would want. But the mentality around whether it’s with my racquets and rehab or whatever, it’s always to try to get better.
“Is there anything that you can do that might help and influence some results or not? I have to wait to see whether it’s a good decision for me or not. It’s something that I wanted to see whether it could make a difference.
“I know they are different things but you wouldn’t get a golfer using the same clubs that they came out with 25 years ago. A Formula One car is not going to be the same today as it was 25 years ago. For some reason tennis is a sport where players are always reluctant to change.
“I felt like now is the time to see whether it can make a difference. I felt like it was something I wanted to try. I don’t want to finish my career thinking: ‘Should I have given it a go to see whether or not that was something that could have potentially helped me?’
“I have really enjoyed it as well. That’s probably helped me a bit the last few weeks as well.” Murray is playing only his second French Open since 2017 when he lost to Wawrinka in the semi-finals.
The Swiss, now 39, also beat him in the first round here in 2020. They also both have three Major titles as the two most successful players of their era outside the Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.
And world No.75 Murray revealed: “When we flew from Bordeaux to Geneva, we actually sat next to each other on an easyJet flight and ended up talking about the matches we have played and the difficulties psychologically of the players that we were competing against.
“We both had different journeys in terms of how things worked out for us. There are lots of similarities there as well.”
Both great champions are now fighting against the dying of the light in their careers. The ATP announced that the Swiss star had withdrawn from the Rome Masters with a wrist injury.
But after winning only three matches this season, world No.97 Wawrinka admitted: “I went home because I didn’t want to be on the court. I am going to have to start winning matches.
“If the results don’t come, I will have to ask myself some questions but I am really positive because my level of play can be really good. It is up to me to find the answers.”
