Andy Murray already coming to terms with retirement: “I’m not upset I’m not playing tennis anymore”

It’s only been a day but Andy Murray seems to be taking retirement pretty well so far.

The Scot called time on his career at the age of 37 after one last hurrah at the Paris Olympics, where he reached the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles with Dan Evans. And though he had dreaded how it might feel to not be a professional tennis player anymore, he seems content. 

“I feel good,” Murray told former British player Laura Robson in an interview for Discovery +. “Obviously I knew this moment was coming for the last few months, whether we we’d lost a few days ago or we’d got to the final, I was ready for it. I’ve got some time to do what I want now.

“I’m not unhappy, I’m not upset I’m not playing tennis anymore. When I thought about this time coming in the last couple of years, I was sad and worried about it, so far it’s been a lot easier than I thought, I know it’s only been a day, than I expected.

“The week was amazing, I felt that way as well, after the match I chatted a bit with Dan with about it about the week in general and how the Olympics has been for all of us. We’ve had an amazing time an brilliant memories, and we could have easily lost in the first round, we’ve had a brilliant week, would have wanted to play better yesterday, but a great run.” 

Murray revealed that he’d told his physio that there was no need for an ice bath or rub down after his quarter-final loss, while he also found time to have a bit of fun on social media.

The tributes to Murray soon flooded in. The LTA announced that the centre court at Queen’s Club will be renamed The Andy Murray Arena for the ATP event each year, while his biggest rivals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, all sent video messages.

Borg message makes Murray extra-proud

Murray said one message had been extra special.

“I got a message from Bjorn Borg this morning, which was pretty cool, obviously a legend of our sport and I got to spend a little bit of time with him at the Laver Cup,” he said. “He said ‘congrats to one of the all-time greats. Good luck for what’s next’.”

Murray won three Grand Slam titles, two Olympic gold medals, won the Davis Cup and 46 titles worldwide, becoming world No 1 in 2016. In an era when Djokovic, Nadal and Federer dominated the sport like no trio in history, for a few years, Murray matched them and even got the better of them.

“I’m very aware that the guys I was competing against had significantly better careers than I have. But for a period in the middle part of my career I was competing with them in the biggest tournaments consistently and I managed to get to No 1 in the world whilst they were all playing and that meant a lot to me,” he said. “It hasn’t been easy to win the major competitions whilst they’ve been around. So, to have someone of that stature (Borg) recognise that was obviously really special.

“The part that’s been hard for me, because of what Rafa, Roger and Novak achieved, is so out of reach for basically anyone who played the game of tennis. And things I achieved look miniscule compared to that. It can be easy to forget about winning a few Grand Slams and the Olympics. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved in this period and I’ve worked extremely hard for it and that’s all that matters, what anyone else says about it doesn’t matter so much.

“I love tennis and I have a lot of respect for previous generations and what they’ve achieved and given us a platform to go on to do what we have, so to hear from someone like Bjorn, is really cool.” 

Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics.