Kyrgios opinion on Murray's retirement draws attention

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios believes that former world number one Andy Murray deserved to retire ‘more gracefully’. The 37-year-old, who is often regarded as the greatest British player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, has retired from tennis recently because of fitness concerns.

Kyrgios, who was once regarded as one of the most talented Australian players and is currently spending time on the sidelines, has recently spoken in a report by BBC Sports where he talked about Murray’s retirement. The 29-year-old was of the opinion that the former world number one should have retired more ‘gracefully’.

"I look at how Andy Murray's doing it now, and how Rafael [Nadal] is going out, I don't want to be like that either. I don't want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense," said Kyrgios. "What Andy Murray's achieved in this sport is second to basically no-one... unless you are Novak [Djokovic], [Roger] Federer, or Nadal, like, the next person is Andy Murray. It's like you've achieved everything. You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he's done. I think that the surgeries, the pain, it's just not worth it, in my opinion."

Murray, who has struggled with fitness concerns throughout his career, announced earlier this year that he would retire after taking part in the Paris Olympics. His original plan was to play at home at the Wimbledon championship in the singles category, but the Glasgow-born suffered a serious back injury, which forced him to change his plans. He ended up participating in the doubles category with his brother Jamie, but the two were knocked out after losing in the first round. His final appearance came at the Paris Olympics, where he participated in the doubles category with Dan Evans. The two were knocked out after losing in the quarterfinals.