Andy Murray's doubles partner optimistic for Olympic gold

Britain’s Dan Evans believes that legendary tennis star Andy Murray can sign off with an Olympic gold medal. The 37-year-old is often regarded as the greatest British player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, especially in the singles category.

Murray announced earlier this year that he would retire from professional tennis after the Paris Olympics. The mega-event started officially on Friday, and athletes from all over the world will participate to secure the ultimate prize for their respective countries.

The Glasgow-born star recently announced that he will not take part in the singles category. Instead, he will put all his energy into playing in the doubles category. His partner Evans was recently quoted in a report expressing optimism that the former world number one can sign off from professional tennis with another Olympic medal. The 34-year-old stated that in his opinion, Murray has been ‘as competitive as ever’ ahead of the mega-event.

"There's nothing more that I want than to get a medal for him and myself," said Evans as quoted by Eurosport. "It's really positive that we agreed on that and we can work together on giving ourselves the best chance. I don't see any reason why we can't do something special. I don't think Andy wants it to be a farewell, I think he wants to win a medal and he'll say goodbye in his own way. He's here to do a job and get a medal. He was out there the other day doing sprints at the end of our session. Knowing Andy as I do, he's as competitive as ever, working as hard as ever."

Murray has struggled with fitness concerns throughout his career. It was for this reason that he announced his retirement from professional tennis back in 2018 as well but returned to the court soon after. Earlier this year, Murray suffered an ankle injury, which kept him out of action for two months. He suffered another back injury during the Queen’s ATP championship, which forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon’s single round.