Three-time major winner Andy Murray has confirmed that the Paris 2024 Olympics will be his last tennis tournament, bringing an end to a glittering 19-year professional career.
The former British and world number one has endured injury nightmare after injury nightmare for the past seven years and had been expected to call time on his career at some point in 2024.
Murray was denied a Wimbledon singles swansong due to the back injury that he suffered at Queen's, which required surgery, but he was able to compete in the doubles with his brother Jamie Murray.
The siblings lost their first-round match to Rinky Hijikata and John Peers, after which Murray was given an emotional send-off on Centre Court, where players past and present paid tribute to his astounding achievements.
The 37-year-old was scheduled to team up with Emma Raducanu in the mixed doubles, only for the 2021 US Open champion to pull out, citing concerns over a wrist problem as she competed in the women's singles.
However, Murray has been awarded a spot in the men's singles at the Paris Games as a legacy gold medallist - one of two men granted such a route alongside Stanislas Wawrinka - and he will also team up with Dan Evans in the men's doubles.
With just one day to go before the Games commence, Murray posted on X - formerly known as Twitter - that he would be officially ending his career at the Olympics, proclaiming that representing Great Britain has been the highest honour of his career.
Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 23, 2024
Competing for 🇬🇧 have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I'm extremely proud to get do it one final time! pic.twitter.com/keqnpvSEE1
"Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics Competing for 🇬🇧 have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I'm extremely proud to get do it one final time!" Murray wrote.
What has Murray achieved in his illustrious career?
While sometimes dividing opinion with his stoic demeanour and dry sense of humour, Murray's British tennis legacy will live on for decades as he chases a third Olympic gold medal in Paris.
The former world number one is a two-time champion in the men's singles from the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games, while he also won a mixed doubles silver alongside Laura Robson in the former.
In terms of Grand Slam achievements, Murray's historic beating of Novak Djokovic in the 2012 US Open final ended GB's 35-year wait for another major singles winner after Virginia Wade triumphed at Wimbledon in 1997.
No British man since Fred Perry in 1936 had clinched a Grand Slam singles honour before Murray conquered Flushing Meadows, less than a year before he downed Djokovic once more to win his inaugural Wimbledon singles crown.
Murray repeated his SW19 trick three years later by overcoming Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon final, while he also reached the Australian Open final five times and the French Open showpiece on one occasion.
However, the 37-year-old fell away from the top of the game after his devastating hip injury of 2017, since when he has reached just four more top-level finals and none since the 2023 Qatar Open, where he lost to Daniil Medvedev.
In total, Murray has won 46 singles titles and three doubles honours across Grand Slam, ATP Tour and Olympic tournaments, including 14 Masters honours and the ATP Finals in 2016, which saw him achieve a year-end world number one ranking for the first time.
Ben Knapton
