Andy Murray was seen in a teary mood as he walked alone onto the court to say goodbye to professional tennis, his career concluding after he was defeated in the Paris Olympics doubles quarterfinals on Thursday night.
Murray, who is now 37, had previously announced he would retire at the 2024 Summer Games. He and his partner Dan Evans were thrashed by the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul with a score of 6-2, 6-4.
Murray has had a long battle with injuries recently, including undergoing two hip operations, one of which involved a metal implant in 2019. Murray also had surgery to remove a cyst from his spine in June of this year, which was the reason that he withdrew from singles at Wimbledon and the Olympics; he only played in doubles at both events.
The duo who represented the UK had previously managed to stave off a total of seven match points—or “retirement points”—earlier in the tournament, keeping five in the first round and another two in the second round, extending Murray’s career a bit longer.
It then became a very difficult task for Murray and Evans to recreate that magic against the third-seeded Fritz and Paul.
Murray had a very good career; he is famous for what he does and has a good number of achievements in his name, which include winning Wimbledon twice and the U.S. Open once, along with Olympic gold medals from London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The first Wimbledon championship that he won in 2013 made him the first British man to win the trophy in 77 years.
He earned the same title again in 2016, with his first major championship coming at the U.S. Open in 2012.
The crowd gave a standing ovation at the conclusion of Thursday’s match. Evans, as well as Fritz and Paul, also gave their own respect.
Paul and Fritz will now compete with Matt Ebden and John Peers of Australia. The other semifinal features the fourth-seeded team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the U.S. over Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic.
Murray paused to sign autographs for fans as he left the court as a competitor for the last time.
