Andy Murray and Dan Evans captured the heart of the British public during their run to the quarters. (Image: Getty)
Andy Murray ended his career after partnering Dan Evans during the Olympic Games after enjoying an emotional tournament with his teammate and they’re still spending time together
Andy Murray has quickly moved on from partnering Dan Evans for Team GB at the Olympics to declare his teammate is now his opponent.
The duo formed an emotional partnership during the Paris Games as Murray attempted to fend off retirement long enough to earn a gold medal. Murray and Evans reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros before being knocked out by American pair of Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz.
While tears marked their exit, Team GB’s doubles entrants enjoyed a rollercoaster journey during their time in the French capital. Time and again the team literally roared to victory after saving five match points against Japan in their opening round and two more against Belgian opposition in the second.
Evans is set to see a tumble down the world rankings after sacrificing enough ranking points to drop 100 places, to feature in the Olympics alongside Murray. It was a competition that meant a great deal to both players and with the journey over, they are now facing each other in another sport.
Away from the Olympic village, the British tennis stars have taken to the golf course for their next competitive endeavour. It appears it was not for a friendly round of 18 holes with Murray taking to Instagram to declare: “Partners last week… opponents today”.
Before heading home, Murray also kept himself busy while in Paris. Former teammate Laura Robson revealed he had been hunting down nation’s pins that commemorate their attendance at the Olympics.
Robson said: “He’s taking [collecting pins] seriously. He didn’t do it in 2012 but then followed it up, Rio and Tokyo [he] went hard. In the athletes’ village, he’s trying to find the most niche country, the smallest country.
“His one for this week was—there’s one athlete from Liechtenstein, and he was searching the village high and low to try and find this poor man. He tracked him down, and he’s got it, and it was like he’d won the Olympic gold. Honestly, he came in and was showing everyone like, ‘Look what I’ve got!’”
With Murray’s career now at end, the Scot was relieved he was able to finish on his own terms. An operation on his back had seen the veteran pull out of singles competition in Paris and Wimbledon.
Murray had expected to feature in the mixed doubles at SW19 too after being knocked out of the men’s doubles competition before his partner, Emma Raducanu, pulled out.
“I’m glad I got to go out here and finish on my terms,” he said. “At times in the last few years, that wasn’t a certainty.
“And even when I first went to have my scan on my back, the issue that I had with it, I was told that I wouldn’t be playing at the Olympics and I wouldn’t be playing at Wimbledon. So I feel lucky I got that opportunity to play here and have some great matches and create amazing memories.”
