“I think this will be my last Australian Open,” said Andy Murray (44th-Britain) after his first-round exit from the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Murray lost 0-3 (4-6 2-6 2-6) to 32nd-ranked Tomas Martin Echeverri (Argentina) in the first round of the men’s singles competition at the Australian Open tennis tournament on Friday in Melbourne, Australia.
“There’s a good chance this will be the last match I play here,” Murray said in his post-match interview, “I’m disappointed with the result, and it’s a different feeling than when I came out last year.”
Murray is a longtime member of men’s tennis’ “Big Four” alongside Roger Federer (retired-Swiss), Rafael Nadal (No. 446-Spain) and Novak Djokovic (No. 1-Serbia).
Born in 1987, he is the same age as Djokovic and one year younger than Nadal.
At the majors, he won the 2012 US Open, Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, and has only finished runner-up at the Australian Open five times.
He even said that the 2019 Australian Open would be his “last year”.
“I’d like to play until Wimbledon this year, but I don’t know if I can,” Murray said in January 2019 due to nagging back and hip injuries, and after his first-round exit at that year’s Australian Open, he greeted fans in a retirement-like manner.
Murray’s absence from the tournament caused her to drop out of the top 500 in 2019, but she has since rebounded and is now back in the top 40.
He also missed the Australian Open in 2020 and 2021 before returning in 2022. His most recent results were a second round appearance in 2022 and a third round appearance in 2023.
“I’ve talked to my family and teammates about when I’m going to retire,” Murray said, “but I don’t have a definite date yet.”
“With results like today, I’m going to be more specific about when I’m going to retire,” he said, adding, “It’s hard for me to believe that I’m going to be able to play better in the future, or that I’m going to be able to make it to the second half of the majors.”
Had Murray made it to the third round of the tournament, he could have faced Djokovic.
With Federer retired and Nadal out with an injury ahead of this year’s Australian Open, the era of the men’s tennis “big four” is over, with Djokovic the only one left to take the reins to the next generation.