Andy Murray previously explained what could make him end his career at the end of 2024.
Tennis fans have called on Andy Murray to retire by the end of the year so he can enjoy a last hurrah like Roger Federer. The former world No. 1 recently confessed that the 2024 season could be his last if he is no longer enjoying himself. Following a first-round exit at the Brisbane International, he will now be bidding to start his season on the right note at the Australian Open.
Andy Murray had a rollercoaster 2023, starting the year on a high when he won two marathon five-setters to reach the third round of the Australian Open. He followed it up by reaching the Doha final and later won Challenger titles in Aix-en-Provence, Surbiton and Nottingham. But his form never seemed to translate to the regular tour for the rest of the season.
The 36-year-old suffered some heartbreaking defeats towards the end of the year, including his Paris Masters first-round loss to Alex de Minaur where he blew a match point and lost the last five games to crash out 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5. It was another three-set defeat for Murray to start 2024, and tennis fans have now had their say on his possible retirement.
In an Express Sport poll, 73 per cent of tennis fans said that the three-time Grand Slam champion should hang up his racket by the end of the year. If he decided to step away later in 2024, it would give room for Murray to enjoy his favourite tournaments for the final time and have his last dance like Federer did in 2022 at the Laver Cup.
It comes just days after Murray told the BBC that he would stop playing tennis if the end of 2024 was anything like last year. The world No. 44 went 2-5 in the last five tournaments of the season and admitted: “If I was in a situation like I was at the end of last year, then I probably wouldn’t go again.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the Brit, who wants to continue if he’s feeling good and seeing results. He added: “We’ll see how the year goes, see how the body holds up. If things are going well, I’d love to keep going. But if they’re not, and I’m not enjoying it, it could be the last year, yes.”
Despite a first-round exit in Brisbane, Murray still has plenty of positives to take from his short-lived run. He was the only man to take a set off of eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov and found himself two games from victory before the second seed stormed back to win 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Even world No. 8 Holger Rune wasn’t able to take as many games off of the Bulgarian in last Sunday’s final, as Dimitrov came through 7-6(5) 6-4. With every Andy Murray loss comes questions of retirement and whether he’ll hang up his racket any time soon – especially when it’s a disappointing result for the former No. 1. But the 36-year-old is still delighting fans with his gruelling battles for now.
