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Nick Kyrgios believes that this year’s Wimbledon finals should be the last one Andy Murray plays in as he does not like watching the 37-year-old Scot continue pushing his body to its limits.
Murray, who has hinted that he would be hanging up his racket this summer, is a doubt for Wimbledon after undergoing surgey to remove a spinal cyst last month. He is set to make a decision over whether he plays in the singles tomorrow morning where he will face Tomas Machac in the evening session.
At the start of the year, Murray had two goals in mind before he steps away from tennis. Playing on Centre Court one last time to “feel the buzz” of the crowd and have some closure was one of them.
However, his recent surgery is the latest setback and Kyrgios says it “pains him” to watch Murray struggle with potentially ‘life-affecting’ injuries.
“He’s an amazing athlete, one of the best that’s ever stepped onto court,” Kyrgios told Piers Morgan in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“Reputation-wise, I don’t think one person says anything bad about Andy in the locker room. You know you’re going to get an amazing competitor.
“He’s always been supportive of me and my career and we’ve had a great friendship, but at this stage it pains me to see him. These are not small injuries, these are injuries that can affect your life moving forward with your family.
“This should be his last Wimbledon. I think he’s achieved everything you could possibly achieve.”
When Morgan touted the idea that Murray seemed to be fearful about retiring and leaving tennis behind, Kyrgios empathised with that point of view adding: “I understand that. I’ve got so many amazing things happening in my life, not only tennis. He’s got a beautiful family and so many things in his life he could be enjoying.
“I think it’s how you look at it. I don’t identify as a tennis player, it’s just one way of my communication. I have the Good Trouble podcast, I’ve got tennis and so many other ways that I communicate with the world. If you look at it like that I think Andy needs to find how he can still communicate.
“I guess for me, he might be afraid to let go because he thinks that’s all he is but he’s got a great family, is a good human and can do anything he wants.
“Letting go of tennis for him might be hard but I think he’ll be fine.”
