Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray confirmed on Tuesday he will retire from tennis after the Paris Olympics.
Murray, 37, played in his final Wimbledon tournament earlier this month, losing in the first round of the men’s doubles competition. He previously withdrew from the Wimbledon singles competition due to his ongoing recovery from a spinal cyst procedure on June 22.
Murray, who will compete in both the singles and doubles tournaments in Paris this summer, posted an emotional message on X ahead of the Olympics:
“Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament,” Murray wrote. “Competing for Team GB has been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get to do it one final time!”
Murray’s decorated 19-year career will come to an end after what will be his fifth Olympics appearance, having debuted in the 2008 tournament in Beijing. The draw for the Paris games is slated to take place on Thursday. Along with the singles tournament, Murray will compete in the doubles competition alongside compatriot Dan Evans, who is currently ranked world No. 59 by ATP.
Murray is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning back-to-back titles at London 2012—where he memorably beat Roger Federer in a straight-sets victory—and Rio 2016.
“I’m ready to finish playing,” Murray said at his last Wimbledon tournament. “I don’t want that to be the case. I would love to play, like I said, forever… If I knew my body was going to be able to do it, I would play — there’s nothing about the sport that I hate and I’m like, I don’t want to do it anymore for this reason. I like the traveling. I love the competition, practicing, trying to get better, all those things. I know that it’s time now.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Andy Murray Confirms Retirement With Emotional Message Ahead of Paris Olympics.