PARIS (AP) — Andy Murray’s professional tennis career ended with a loss in the Paris Olympics doubles quarterfinals Thursday night.
The 37-year-old Murray had said the 2024 Summer Games would the final event of his career, and he and partner Dan Evans were beaten by the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-4 at Court Suzanne Lenglen.
The British pair had managed to stave off a total of seven match points — well, in this case, let’s call them “retirement points” — earlier in the tournament, five in the first round and then two more in the second round, to extend Murray’s career.
But Murray and Evans could not create that sort of magic again against the third-seeded Fritz and Paul.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam singles champion and the only tennis player with two Olympic singles golds — from London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. His first Wimbledon championship, in 2013, made Murray the first man from Britain to win that trophy in 77 years.
He also won the title at the All England Club in 2016; his initial major championship came at the U.S. Open in 2012.
Murray has dealt with a series of injuries in the latter stages of his career, including needing two hip operations, one for a metal implant in 2019. Most recently, he had surgery to remove a cyst from his spine last month.
That forced him to skip the singles events at Wimbledon — where he and his older brother, Jamie, lost in the first round of doubles — and the Olympics.
When Thursday’s match ended, there was a standing ovation from the crowd. Paul and Fritz applauded, too, as did Evans.
On his way off the court as a competitor for the last time, Murray stopped and signed autographs for fans.
He will be remembered forever as someone who made the most of his talent and managed to elbow his way in among the Big Three of men’s tennis — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who have a combined 66 Grand Slam trophies — to claim those three of his own.
Finished a season at No. 1 in the rankings, too.
“Just incredible resilience throughout all his career,” Djokovic said last month. “Multiple Grand Slam winner. Legend of the game.”
A grinding game style, mainly at the baseline, superb returning and a never-give-up attitude propelled Murray to success on the tennis court and popularity away from it. He has been an advocate for women in the sport, including hiring Amelie Mauresmo as his coach — a rare instance of a top male player working with a female coach — and never been shy about voicing his opinions on various issues that affected his sport or society at large.
Paul and Fritz will face Matt Ebden and John Peers of Australia next. The other semifinal is the fourth-seeded team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the U.S. against Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
