"He's the guy who ruined my career the most," Gilles Simon reflects on his rivalry with Andy Murray

Former world No. 6 Gilles Simon spoke about his experience facing Andy Murray throughout his career, describing him as an "ultra-competitor," even more so than his contemporaries Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

The French ex-tennis player analyzed his challenging rivalry with the former world No. 1. Murray is the player he faced the most in his career (19 times), but ended with a poor record of 3-16 (15%) against the Brit between 2007 and 2022. Additionally, the 3-time Grand Slam champion achieved 12 consecutive wins over Simon across 8 years.

It is only a matter of days before Andy Murray’s retirement is finalized at the Olympic Games. The double gold medalist in 2012 and 2016 announced that his last event will be in Paris 2024, starting on July 27. Murray is in the singles draw and doubles with Dan Evans.

The former Wimbledon quarterfinalist recalled with L’Equipe his painful experiences facing Murray, who dominated most of their encounters and eliminated him several times in crucial tournament stages: "He's the guy who ruined my career the most," Simon told L'Equipe. "I lost my first Masters 1000 final against him (Madrid in 2008), a quarter-final in Melbourne in 2013, a Davis Cup semi-final at Queen's (in 2015)."

The player who defeated Gilles Simon the most on the Tour was precisely Andy Murray. Simon is one of the most successful French players in the Open Era, ranking fourth in titles (14), only behind Yannick Noah (23), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (18), and Richard Gasquet (16). Additionally, he is third in the number of victories with 504, behind only Gasquet (580) and Gael Monfils (525).

"He became the player I wanted to beat the most,” Simon added about Murray. “I studied him a lot on the field. Because he bothered me too much, in terms of his game but also in his attitude. We got to annoy each other, we played matches where we told each other about our lives!”

"He was ready to die on the court. He is an ultra-competitor, perhaps even more than (Roger) Federer, (Rafael) Nadal, and (Novak) Djokovic. He was ready to do anything to win, whatever the way, good or bad."

At least Simon has the consolation of having achieved a win in their last match, in the first round of the 2022 Paris Masters. That was Simon’s last tournament as a professional, where he then defeated the 9th seed Taylor Fritz in the second round, but ultimately fell in the Round of 16 to Felix Auger-Aliassime (8th seed).

The 39-year-old Frenchman highlighted Murray’s decision-making ability and mentioned that the Scotsman’s talent is often underestimated: "He always found a solution," Simon continued. "He was constantly looking for one and often ended up finding one. Whatever his choice, he always had full awareness of what he was doing. As he is intelligent, every time it fell right.

"Andy is much more talented than we think. One of the most gifted we've ever seen. As he was above all a solid player, who ran everywhere and made no mistakes, he was labeled as needy. But we make a capital mistake by systematically associating talent with a flamboyant style of play."