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Andy Murray faced a rather brutal loss at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday, succumbing in straight sets to Ugo Humbert in the second round. The loss, where he appeared visibly frustrated on the court with multiple outbursts, also led the Brit to confront talk of his impending retirement from the sport.
Speaking to the press after his 2-6, 4-6 loss, the three-time Grand Slam champion proclaimed that it is unlikely that he would play past this summer. Murray went on to lament about being asked about his retirement over and over again at tournaments, stating that he was "bored" of the question at this point.
"I mean, I'm likely not going to play past this summer. I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I'm bored of the question, to be honest."
"Yeah, I'm not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But yeah, I don't plan on playing much past this summer," Andy Murray said, as quoted by the Express.
It is pertinent to not that this news of Murray hanging up his racquet soon does not come out of the blue, as the 36-year-old had admitted earlier this week that he did not have long left in the game.
"I obviously love competing and still love the game but it gets obviously harder and harder, the older you get, to compete with the young guys and keep your body fit and fresh, so yeah, not easy. I probably don't have too long left. I'll do the best I can these last few months," Murray had said.
Andy Murray further revealed that he will try to play one last time at the French Open this year, a point of note considering he has been avoiding the clay in the last few years in order to protect his body from the rigorous demands of the surface.
"Last few years I've tried to give myself maybe better preparation for the grass season, but that also doesn't guarantee that you're going to play really well on the grass," Andy Murray said.
"I've had experiences through my career where I didn't play the French Open in 2013 and I won Wimbledon. I also played the French Open and did really well in 2016. I don't think it makes a huge difference if you get an extra week's practice or so on the grass. So yeah, I would like to play one more time," he added.
Andy Murray hopes to play the Paris Olympics this year
In addition to the French Open, Andy Murray also has his eye on participating at the Paris Olympics.
A former Olympic gold medalist, the Brit admitted during the press conference that even though the games were going to be held on clay this year at Roland Garros, he was intent on making an appearance at the event.
"I like the tournament. I like playing at Roland Garros. I mean, obviously, yeah, if you want to do well at the Olympics, you probably are going to have to play some tournaments and get matches in on the clay. Yeah, even if the Olympics was not after Wimbledon, I would still want to play it."
Murray, meanwhile, is on the entry list for Indian Wells up next, where he will be joined by the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and others.
