Andy Murray has confirmed the Paris Olympic Games will be the last tennis event he plays before ending his career at the age of 37.
It was expected that the former world No.1 would retire from the sport this year but it is the first time he has confirmed what his last event will be. Murray announced his plans in a post on social media website X this morning ahead of the Olympics, where he is playing in both singles and doubles events. The tennis tournament is taking place on clay at Roland Garros, which is the venue of the French Open.
“Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament,” Murray wrote on X.
“Competing for Team GB has been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get to do it one final time!”
Murray is the only man in the Open Era to have won back-to-back singles gold medals at the Olympics. He was also Team GB’s flag-bearer for the 2016 games in Rio. Paris will be his fifth appearance in the Olympics.
The announcement follows an emotional farewell for the Brit at Wimbledon where he received a special presentation on Center Court following his first round loss in the doubles. An array of sporting stars such as Novak Djokovic and Martina Navratilova attended the event with a special on-court interview conducted by Sue Barker. Murray was also due to play in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Emma Eaducanu but his partner pulled out of the event due to soreness in her wrist.
“I would love to keep playing, but I can’t physically. It is too tough now. All of the injuries, they’ve added up. … They haven’t been insignificant. But yeah, I want to play forever,” Murray told the BBC.
“I love the sport. It’s given me so much, and taught me loads of lessons over the years that I can use for the rest of my life. But yeah, I don’t want to stop, so it is hard.”
Murray has been a pivotal figure in British tennis. In 2013 he became the first man from his country to win the Wimbledon title for 77 years before winning the Grand Slam for a second time in 2016. He also won the US Open in 2012, reached the final of the Australian Open five times, and was runner-up at the 2016 French Open. Overall, Murray has won 46 ATP titles and made more than $64M in prize money. In the Davis Cup, he guided his country to the trophy in 2015 by winning all 11 matches he played in both singles and doubles.
Among his achievements, Murray was the first athlete to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on three separate occasions (2013, 2015, and 2016). In 2019 he became only the second tennis player in history to be knighted and the first to do so since 1939. He is also the only British man to have topped the ATP rankings system, holding the position for 41 weeks.
Injury issues have also played a role in Murray’s career, especially during the later part of it. He contemplated retiring from the sport five years ago due to a serious hip issue before undergoing resurfacing surgery that enabled him to continue playing with a metal rod inserted into his hip joint. Since then, he has also suffered other minor setbacks such as an ankle injury earlier this season followed by a back issue that forced him out of the singles event at Wimbledon.
Murray will find out who he faces in the final tournament of his career on Thursday when the draw takes place for the Olympic tennis events.
