"I wish looking back I’d been a bit more kinder to myself" - Relentless rivalries prevented Andy Murray from enjoying his career more

Andy Murray has had an illustrious career at the top of tennis. Despite all the major and big titles he collected in a hugely impressive career, he has one regret from his time in the sport.

Murray was regularly challenging the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for Grand Slam titles, breaking the dominant mould of the Big Three. This was shown by his successful runs at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 in front of a home crowd, with it all starting a year prior at Flushing Meadows in 2012 where he tasted glory for the first time in a major event.

However, his time at the top came to a sudden halt right after winning the ATP Tour Finals and becoming the world number one after a fantastic 2016 campaign. He was sidelined with a hip injury, having to go under the knife and not returning until 2018 where he was ranked outside the top 100.

This did not faze him. He continued to try and compete with the best but was nowhere near the world class levels he was once at. He soldiered on until 2024 where he eventually decided to make the executive call to finish his career. He chose the Paris Olympics as his last event, where he was teamed up with fellow Brit Dan Evans in the doubles event. After winning two dramatic matches, they were dumped out the quarter-finals to American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, thus ending Murray's career.

Looking back at the end of his career, the 38-year-old stated that his body could not take anymore. “I think it helped that I was react to retire, physically I couldn’t really play to the level I wanted to anymore, my body was kind of telling me that it was time," Murray said on the Romesh Ranganathan podcast. "I didn’t feel like I still had much more to give but within like 10 days, two weeks of finishing, I looked back and was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I managed to do these things and achieve these things’."

Despite all that he achieved, the Scot was always in fierce competition with the Big Three, making it hard to consistently win at the top level. “When I was playing, I didn’t really have much pride in my career because a lot of the times, I was surrounded by three of the best tennis players of all time and your achievements are kind of miniscule in comparison to those guys and you’re kind of looking to them, one, to try and learn and improve, but also you want to try and match their results,” Murray said somberly.

Looking back, he wished that he was more 'kinder' to himself and tried to enjoy his time on tour more. “You’re having to beat these players, so I didn’t have much pride in what I’d achieved whilst I was playing, but very quickly, when I finished, I don’t know, my perception of my career and what I achieved changed drastically. It’s a shame, I wish looking back I’d been a bit more kinder to myself and enjoyed my career a little bit more. It’s hard, when you’re trying to achieve things, there’s always the next tournament and the next week. There’s always pressure to go out there and perform,” he added.

While his time in tennis was a huge success, he was unable to achieve what he may have hoped due to the high calibre competition he had to regularly face. He lost eight Grand Slam finals, three to Federer and five to Djokovic. The ATP Finals success over Djokovic in 2016 was one of the last big coups he got over his bitter rivals.