Amid retirement talk Andy Murray seeks one final Olympic Games gold medal tilt: "Hopefully I can get the chance to compete at another one"

ATP
Wednesday, 28 February 2024 at 22:30
murray ao 2022

Former world No. 1 Andy Murray hopes to compete in the Olympics once again before his retirement, which seems increasingly imminent. Injuries have plagued the British player in the last years of his career, but he has managed to maintain a competitive pace.

However, recently, he has not achieved good results and has only a 2-6 record in 2024, placing him at world No. 61. The three-time Grand Slam champion will turn 37 in May, and there are only two players older than him in the top 100: Gael Monfils (37) and Stan Wawrinka (38). Additionally, Murray is just 7 days older than Novak Djokovic.

This week, Murray competed in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and secured a victory over Denis Shapovalov (4-6, 7-6, 6-3), but he was decisively defeated in the round of 16 against Ugo Humbert (2-6, 4-6). After another loss, he was asked about his plans for a possible retirement.

"I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play," said Murray. "I'm bored of the question, to be honest. I'm not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop.”

"But I don't plan on playing much past this summer," the 2-times Wimbledon champion said.

Murray eyes Olympic comeback

Murray is the only tennis player in the Open Era to achieve three medals in the Olympic Games, winning gold in singles consecutively in 2012 London and 2016 Rio, along with a silver in mixed doubles, also in 2012. Only Rafael Nadal (2008 and 2016) and Nicolas Massu (2004) have two gold medals, both with one in singles and one in doubles.

Despite retirement looming, there is still the Sunshine Double and the entire European clay season for Murray to find better form before the Olympic Games, where his participation is not assured either: "Hopefully I can get the chance to compete at another one," said Murray.

To qualify, the British player must be within the top 56 of the ATP Ranking after the French Open and be among the top four in his country, and currently, he is at 77th. However, the ranking list will likely shift considering there can be no more than four participants per country.

A second option would be to receive a wild card from the organization as a former gold medalist and Grand Slam champion; the organization has two of them, and Murray could probably secure one, even considering that Rafael Nadal will also seek the opportunity if he doesn't qualify directly.

“There's no right way of finishing your career and everyone is different so what might be the right way for Federer might not be the right way for [Rafael] Nadal, might not be the right way for [Novak] Djokovic."

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