Andy Murray certainly is not the same player he was in the mid-2010s. Injuries have mostly robbed him of his excellent ability to move around the court. He can still make shots most people never could, but he makes fewer of those shots because he gets to fewer balls.
He almost retired after a serious hip injury and then had hip resurfacing surgery in 2019. The rehab alone would have caused most players to retire for good. But the Scot obviously loves the game so much that he has a hard time quitting. Plus, he is still in his 30s so expecting someone to stop doing what they love at an early age is a difficult request.
Andy Murray, though, has not had any kind of real success over the last several years. He keeps playing and losing, but then coming play to play and losing again. He also keeps being asked when he might retire which has to be aggravating.
Andy Murray appears to give a clear answer on when he will retire
This might be one reason that after losing to Ugo Humbert in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Andy Murray wanted to finally give an answer to all the retirement questions. Post-match, Murray said, “Yeah, I mean, I’m likely not going to play past this summer. I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I’m bored of the question, to be honest.
“I’m not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But yeah, I don’t plan on playing much past this summer.”
If this is so and not simply Murray feeling defeated by yet another early-round tournament loss, it could mean that Murray plans to retire after his run at Wimbledon is done. He has won the event three times and in 2013 he became the first Brit to win Wimbledon since 1936. The Scot will forever be beloved in the United Kingdom because of his Wimbledon success.
Tennis fans should also hope that Murray is not simply a one-and-done at Wimbledon 2024. Even if he does not win the tournament, if he wins several matches that might be successful enough. Either way, watching Andy Murray walk away from participating in professional tennis is going to be a tough watch.
