Saying Goodbye To Murray

by RIYA SINGH ‘22

While Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal are generally the household names of current professional tennis players, tennis fans were recently informed of three-time Grand Slam champion and former World Number 1 Andy Murray’s impending retirement.

Murray began playing tennis very early in his life. On May 15th, 1987, he was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Jamie and William Murray. Jamie was a former pro tennis player who coached both Andy and his older brother—also named Jamie—in their early years. In March, 1996, his school was subject to a shooting where 17 people were killed by an armed man. In his later years, Murray would talk about this event as one of the most traumatic events in his life and that it influenced his tennis career and his identity. Despite this event, his youth was filled with much success in his athletic life. He became the number one junior in the world after winning the US Open junior title in 2004, and, he was named BBC’s “Young Sports Personality of the Year” later that same year. He went on professional debut in April 2005 and surprised fans in 2006 by beating Roger Federer in the second round of the Cincinnati Open. He would go on to beat Rafael Nadal in 2008 en route to the finals of the US Open. He would follow this defeat of Nadal to later win a gold medal, a US Open title in 2012, a 2013 Wimbledon win, another gold medal, and Wimbledon title in 2016. Andy is known in the UK as a champion of British sports, making British history in 2013 when he became the first British man in 77 years to win Wimbledon.

Despite the quick successes throughout his career, he has been hampered by injuries. Tennis as a sport becomes more and more physical as players get older, and it becomes increasingly difficult for the older players to keep up with the younger generations. In 2017, Murray was plagued by a lingering hip injury and wound up withdrawing from the US Open in the summer. The following January he underwent surgery. In June 2018, he returned to competitive tennis, but he struggled to get back into a groove post-operation. At the Australian Open this year, he broke down in tears at his press conference, announcing that the next week’s tournament could potentially be the final one of his career. The former Number 1 said the pain was so great that it was forcing him to retire. After his surgery about a year ago, he decided to make the 2018 Wimbledon his final tournament but now he feared he could not cope with the physical pain if he continued playing the next few months. “I can still play to a level, but not a level I am happy playing at,” he said. “The pain is too much really. I don’t want to continue playing that way. I think I have tried pretty much everything I could to get it right and that hasn’t worked.” Later he talked about contemplating a potential operation, but it would be solely to increase the quality of his life rather than salvaging his career.

In Murray’s tennis career, not only did he win 3 Grand Slams and 2 gold medals, but he also changed Britain tennis by making history with his Wimbledon wins and leading Britain’s Davis Cup Team to their first triumph in 79 years. Despite his tireless work on his rehabilitation, his retirement is not on his terms—psychologically, the last twenty months have drained his love for tennis due to relentless pain and discomfort. Murray will be remembered forever as a pioneer for British tennis and as one of the best defensive, hardworking, and dedicated tennis players ever.