British tennis icon Andy Murray has been warned he is "running out of time" to impress at the end of his career ahead of the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.
The three-time Grand Slam champion won the US Open back in 2012 when he defeated Novak Djokovic to claim his maiden major title. Murray will be hoping his positive memories of the event will help him rediscover his best form amid a disappointing run of form.
Murray hobbled off the court after he fell to compatriot Cameron Norrie in Cincinnati and the two-time Wimbledon champion admitted his recurring cramping is a ‘big concern’. Eurosport expert Barbara Schett believes time is not on the Brit’s side amid fitness concerns.
The 35-year-old is currently ranked 47th in the world and Schett believes things could get worse before they get better. She said: “Physically, it's not going to get easier for Andy Murray.
“It's not just the hips, those injuries he has had. Usually, the older you get, the bigger of a task it is to keep your body fit and healthy, and I've seen it numerous times that the older players, the more they are suffering with cramps, the more they are sweating.
“That seems to be a little bit of the case with Andy Murray. Also, the stress level to be able to perform because you're running out of time, that adds to that whole situation.
“Clearly, things are not going overly well. We will never find out when Andy Murray is going to retire because he probably doesn't know.
“But I'm sure that that beginning of the American stint, he would have liked it to have been a little bit better. So I'm sure he is going to review things very shortly or after the US Open, and then we just have to wait and see.”
Murray emotionally flirted with retirement from the sport at the 2019 Australian Open as he battled a long-running hip injury. He held a tearful press conference which left fans fearing the worst, and the Scot addressed his future once again in Cincinnati.
“It’s a difficult one,” he said. “When I had the injury problems a few years ago and didn’t know whether I was going to be able to play, I maybe always envisaged finishing my career in the UK or whatever.
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“But when I played that match against [Roberto] Bautista Agut [in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open, losing in five sets], I said to my team, if that was it and I don’t get to play again, I was more than happy with that being my last match because it was [an] amazing atmosphere, it was a great match, I fought right to the end until I could basically hardly walk, and left everything out on the court.
“For me, it would have been fine if that was how it finished. There is part of it I think when you announce that you’re retiring that I would imagine psychologically it’s quite difficult, as well. There is a lot of pressure then, I think because you want to perform and because it’s the last couple of tournaments.
“Just the whole situation puts a lot of stress on the performance. So I don’t know whether I would announce something or whether I would just stop and that would be it. I don’t know.”
The 2022 US Open main draw begins on Monday August 29 and runs for two weeks in New York.
