Former world number one
Andy Murray's stature in British
tennis is unmatched. The 38-year-old retired from professional tennis in 2024
after struggling with fitness concerns for several years. Murray’s last
appearance was for his country at the Paris Olympics, where he featured in the doubles
category with Dan Evans.
Their journey eventually ended in the quarterfinals stage, where they suffered a defeat to the pair of Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in
straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-4. Despite bidding farewell to the sport,
Murray remains in the spotlight for different reasons.
Murray finished his career with three major titles, two
of which came while playing on home soil. In a recent development, one of the racquets that Murray used during one of those triumphs was sold for a whopping sum of $73,200, according to
ESPN. Murray used that racquet to lift his first
Wimbledon
title in 2013, where he defeated the former world number one
Novak Djokovic in the
final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
While doing so, he became the first and, to date, the only
British player to win a Wimbledon title in the Open era. Despite his racquet being
sold for a handsome amount of money, it is nowhere near the most expensive
racquet that was sold in the history of tennis. That racquet belonged to the former world number one,
Rafael Nadal, whom he used in his 2017 French Open-winning campaign. That racquet was sold for $157,000.
Murray’s second Wimbledon title came in 2016 when he
defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic in the final in straight sets with a score of
6-4, 7-6, 7-6. Other than that, Murray won the US Open title in 2012 as well.
In that tournament, he defeated Djokovic once again in the final, that time in
a five-set thriller with a score of 7–6(12–10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2.
Incredible achievements
Interestingly, soon after retiring from the sport, Murray
went on to become Djokovic’s coach. That partnership did not last long as the two
decided to part ways just six months after. "Thank you, coach Andy, for
all the hard work, fun & support over last six months on & off the
court. I really enjoyed deepening our friendship together,” wrote Djokovic in a
post on social media to announce the development.
In a recent interview with the Daily Express, Murray revealed that the experience of working with Djokovic was a ' great experience’. Murray also then went on to highlight that he is more than open to returning to coaching, but only if the player is based in London, which would not force him to travel at times when there is no tennis.
“Am I waiting for someone to call and ask me to coach
them? No, no,” said Murray. “Obviously with Novak I did it for a period and it
was great experience and it was a unique opportunity to do it but there are
certain things about the job. If you want to do it well, you need to spend time
on the road. If it is a British player that is London-based, it becomes easier
because the off weeks, at least you are close to home. But if it is a player
who lives elsewhere, it means a lot of time away from the family and I have no
interest in doing that just now because I don’t want to be away from them. I
think in the future I would probably do it again - it is not like I hated it so
much that I wouldn't do it. There were bits of it that I liked but for now I
just don’t want to be on the road and I don’t want to do it.”