It's been a few weeks since Andy Murray retired from tennis, and he recently opened up about his first few weeks as a retired tennis player.
After months of speculation, Murray decided to retire at the Olympic Games in Paris. He was retiring from the sport after a superb tennis career, one of the best in history.
Like most great players, Murray wrestled with the retirement question for a while, but eventually, he realized that it was time to go. There were some worries there; he's never really known much outside of professional tennis.
It's a way of life in many ways because it dominated his daily routine incredibly. Almost everything he did on a daily basis was related to tennis, so retiring was always going to be an interesting experience for the Brit.
After dedicating so much time to the sport, he now has more time for other activities. Murray confirmed that to the BBC, admitting that he has plenty of time to do whatever he wants, which is a nice bonus compared to before when it was practice, treatment, gym, and all the rest.
"Since I've stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want. I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms."
"It is really nice and I didn't expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour. So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking."
As somebody who has been incredibly dedicated to the sport for many years, Murray thought that retirement would be tricky. He knew that he would have more time to spend with the kids and do other activities, but he found it quite freeing, which he didn't expect.
In the past few years, he has had many concerns, including having to spend a lot of time away from the kids, but that isn't the case anymore. It's been a nice experience for him, which is what it's supposed to be. After sacrificing so much for his career, it's time for him to enjoy the finer things in life.
"If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard. But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training."
Despite retiring, Murray wants to remain in the sport in some capacity but has focused more on golf than on tennis for now. He's practicing his swing, but judging by footage posted online, it needs more work.