One of the most legendary tennis careers is over, as Andy Murray lost his last career match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The British player has struggled a lot in recent years, and earlier this year, he announced that he would retire some time during the 2024 season. For a long time, it wasn't clear when exactly he would retire, but then he announced that his retirement would come at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Initially, Murray wanted to enter the Olympics in both singles and doubles, but he couldn't participate in singles, as his body allowed him to play only in doubles alongside compatriot Daniel Evans.
In their first two matches, the two played incredible matches. First, they saved five consecutive match points to beat Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel from Japan, and they saved two more match points against Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen from Belgium in the next round.
In the quarter-finals of the tournament, the last round before medal rounds, they took on the third-seeded Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul from the United States, and ahead of the match, Paul joked about 'sending Murray into retirement'.
He was also aware of the fact that the British duo was sensational at saving match points, so he pointed it out as something that the team had to pay attention to. Little did he know how correct he would end up being.
"I think it’s Andy’s last event. Hopefully we can retire him, that would be pretty cool. But they’ve been saving match points left and right. We’ve got to take care of the first match point because if they get that one."
But early on, the American duo didn't have any issues. They broke their opponents' serve not once, but twice, quickly establishing a 4-0 lead in the opening set of the quarter-final match.
Both teams then easily held their serves, which resulted in a 6-2 first-set win for Fritz and Paul, who looked like a team on the mission, wanting to join their compatriots Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the final of the Olympic Games.
In the second set, Fritz and Paul once again created a massive lead, as the British duo wasn't able to produce level that they produced in their previous matches, resulting in very quickly falling behind 2-5.
But if there was something that would describe Murray's career perfectly, it would be coming back from behind in a spectacular fashion, and he almost did it once again.
Down 2-5, the Brits saved a match points on their opponents' serve, and they made it 4-5 to apply more pressure on their serve. Still, it wasn't enough as the Americans serve it out, winning the match 6-2, 6-4 to end Andy Murray's tennis career.