Andy Murray Leaves Behind A Legacy: “I played tennis.”
Andy Murray has officially retired after losing the Men’s Doubles Quarter-Final at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Lawn Tennis Association has announced that the centre court at The Queen’s Club will be renamed ‘The Andy Murray Arena’ in his honour.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans were defeated 6-2, 6-4 in the Olympic Men’s Doubles Quarter-Final by Team USA’s Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz. This means that Scottish tennis legend, Andy Murray, has now officially retired from professional tennis.
The LTA called Murray a ‘giant’ among the tennis world and announced they would be renaming the centre court at Queen’s in his honour – a venue where he has enjoyed five victories.
From 2025, the centre court for the LTA’s London Championships will be known as ‘The Andy Murray Arena’.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans (Team GB) lose the Men’s Doubles Quarter-Final match against Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul (Team USA) at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock.
It was an emotional day for Andy Murray and his fans as he bid farewell to his lengthy and highly successful tennis career.
The tennis star received a second heartfelt send-off in addition to the tears shed last month when he also ended his 19-year Wimbledon career.
Despite the obvious sadness, Murray was quick to X (formerly Twitter) with a bit of dry humour to lift the mood. He changed his bio to read ‘I played tennis.’ He also shared this viral post.
Never even liked tennis anyway.
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) August 1, 2024
Over the years, Murray won the whole country over with a procession of tennis titles and his unwavering determination despite multiple serious injuries in his career.
Let’s take a look back at Andy Murray’s epic tennis career.
Andy Murray was emotional during his tribute on Centre Court at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, 2024. Image: Javier Garcia/Shutterstock
A love of sports and tennis runs in the Murray family
The tennis champion first got his hands on a tennis racket when he was just two years old and it was love at first smash.
By the age of three, he and little brother Jamie’s indoor games had left the windows and wallpaper of the family home permanently polka-dotted with ball marks.
Aged four, Andy Murray was already regularly beating his tennis pro mum, Judy.
Sport was very much in the genes. In addition to mum Judy, his grandfather had played professional football and an uncle was a golf pro in America.
It seemed inevitable Andy would end up playing sport for a living. It nearly wasn’t tennis though.
Football-mad Andy was invited to trial with Rangers when he was 14. However, already committed to tennis, he turned it down.
Andy might have grown up a few hundred yards from a tennis court in Dunblane, but by 15 he was becoming increasingly frustrated. Losing ground to his rivals – particularly Rafa Nadal – he realised that to keep pace he needed to develop his skills abroad.
Murray arrived at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona as a shy boy who liked to keep himself to himself. The relentless hitting drills sharpened his talent though and instilled in him the incredible work ethic that remains to this day.
All the hard work was paying off. On his 18th birthday, Andy Murray was ranked 375th in the world for tennis. By the end of his teens, he was in the world’s top 10.
Andy Murray celebrates beating USA’s Andy Roddick back in 2006.
The perception of Andy Murray in tennis has changed drastically over the years
Working on how he was perceived by the media and general public took a little longer.
He first arrived at Wimbledon, as an 18-year-old wild card. Skinny, with an explosion of long curly hair and a permanent scowl, he didn’t look like any British tennis star we’d had before and he certainly didn’t act like one. There were tantrums and strops and plenty of potty-mouthed moments from the relentlessly-competitive Andy.
It was an old habit. As a child, his first nickname was Bamm Bamm, because he’d get so angry that he’d start bashing stuff about. Wimbledon fans weren’t sure about the surly Scot and certainly weren’t ready to rename Henman Hill just yet.
The press weren’t too enamoured either. In interviews, he could seem blunt and at times confrontational. A private person, he refused to provide the sound-bites many of the other players gave.
Andy Murray’s 2008 autobiography.
Andy Murray survived a particularly traumatic event before becoming an professional tennis player
For many years he refused to discuss the subject that had affected him most – surviving the Dunblane massacre. Andy and Jamie were pupils at Dunblane Primary School when gunman Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and one teacher in 1996. Andy finally talked about the trauma of the tragedy in his 2008 autobiography, Hitting Back, and again in a 2013 BBC documentary, Andy Murray: The Man Behind The Racquet.
A few more years – and a lot more trophies – has smoothed Andy’s rough edges somewhat. As did marriage, in 2015, to long-time girlfriend Kim Sears. Andy evolved into a thoughtful, honest sportsman who wasn’t afraid to stand up for his beliefs.
It might have been a slow burn but he truly is a national hero. He was knighted in 2016 for his services to tennis and charity.
Andy plays out in the garden with his daughter alongside wife Kim in the 2019 documentary Andy Murray: Resurfacing.
The statistics Murray has to his name are outstanding, but it’s time to focus on family and wellbeing
His stats are mightily impressive. Andy Murray has won 46 tennis titles, including three Grand Slam events while he’s the only tennis player, male or female, to hold two Olympic gold medals for singles events.
In a career punctuated by injuries – back, knee, ankles and finally hip – playing through pain was very much part of his life. While the last few years have seen a decline in his ability to compete at the highest level, they have done nothing to dent his legacy.
The tennis star gave a rare glimpse into his private life when he did another documentary. Andy Murray: Resurfacing followed Murray’s recovery journey between 2017-2019 from a devastating injury. In the documentary, which is still available on Prime Video, we got to witness cute family moments between Murray, his wife Kim and their two daughters at the time.
He intends to use his impending retirement to concentrate on his family – he now shares four children with Kim – and business interests including Cromlix House, his luxury hotel near Dunblane.
