Tennis star Andy Murray announced that he would retire this year, after wimbledon or if not sooner. An emotional Murray announced this in front of the media at Melbourne, Australia.
Murray is struggling from a hip injury since June 2016, this is what he said —
“I spoke to my team, and I told them. I cannot keep doing this. I needed to have an end point because I was sort of playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop. I felt like making that decision.”
“I said to my team, ‘Look, I think I can get through this until Wimbledon.’ That’s where I would like to stop playing. But I am also not certain I am able to do that.”
“Obviously, I’ve been struggling for a long time. I have been in a lot of pain. Well, it’s been probably about 20 months now. I have pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better, and it hasn’t helped loads. I’m in a better place than I was six months ago but still in a lot of pain. Yeah, it has been tough”
Murray who is 31 now became the first British male singles champion at a Grand Slam tournament in 76 years when he won the United States Open in 2012. He won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, an Olympic gold medal in singles in 2012 and 2016. Murray also reached the ATP’s No. 1 ranking for the first time at the end of the 2016 season.
Murray often shadowed by the other Big men of tennis Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He is considered by many the greatest sportsman in Scottish history and was also knighted at 29.
Just two years later today Murray is ranked 230 in the ATP rankings.
He still has plans to play at the Australian open, he plays his first match the following Monday.