After months of speculation, Andy Murray has finally confirmed that the 2024 Paris Olympics will be his final tennis tournament.
It is a bit retirement than when Roger Federer said goodbye to the sport, but still, there are similarities. The Brit has a special place in many tennis fans' hearts.
Murray sacrificed a lot for the sport. in January 2019, he held a press conference in Australia confirming that he might be retiring from the sport due to various physical problems that have plagued him for a very long time.
The list of his injuries is extraordinarily long, and the types of surgeries he has had make you wonder how he was even able to play tennis. It was mostly from sheer will; otherwise, how can you explain that a guy with a metal hip is out there grinding and competing for hours with players younger than a decade than him?
He returned to tennis after his second hip surgery; it was a welcome sight. Most knew that he would probably never return to his peak, but he never wanted to give up.
He battled and battled and occasionally played really well. Some of the moments we'll remember most came after those injury struggles and in the past 2-3 years when he was playing for the sake of playing.
He wasn't competitive, and he wasn't going to win Grand Slams, but his love for tennis kept him going, and that's what it was all about. He's long been known as the fourth member of the expanded 'Big Four,' and for good reason.
Make no mistake: Andy Murray is one of the best tennis players of all time. His resume doesn't look that impressive compared to some other players because he played in the strongest era of tennis.
The fact that he could achieve anything in that era speaks volumes because so many great players didn't. Just look at these numbers: 3 Grand Slam trophies (11 finals), 1 ATP Finals win, 14 Masters trophies (21 finals), 9 ATP 500 trophies (10 finals) and 17 ATP 250 trophies (26 finals). That's 46 career trophies and, on top of that, two gold medals in singles.
Those are legendary numbers, and very few players ever get to it and remember that's during the peak of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.
Take one of them out, and his numbers improve. Take two out, and his numbers dramatically improve and take all of them out, and who knows what they look like. And so we're going to bid farewell to Murray very soon.
After months of speculation and a couple of confirmations that this year will be his final one, Murray confirmed that the 2024 Paris Olympics will be his final tennis event.
It's fitting to say goodbye in Paris because very few players left a legacy as great as Murray has at the Olympics. He is a two-time gold medalist in singles and a silver medalist in mixed doubles.
"Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament Olympics. Competing for have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get do it one final time!"
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