Tearful Andy Murray hints at major career change as former rivals pay tribute

AN emotional Andy Murray has delivered a major hint about his life after tennis – after admitting he’d love to play tennis FOREVER.

The three-time singles slam winner and his brother Jamie were unable to prolong their involvement in the men‘s doubles – going down to John Peers and Rinky Hijikata by a 7-6, 6-4 scoreline.

He still has the mixed doubles competition with Emma Raducanu to compete in – but there were emotional scenes when the Scot thanked his team and his family as he gave Sue Barker what seemed a valedictory interview on the BBC.

Asked by Barker, if he would return in a non-playing capacity next year, he hinted that he could be back – as a COACH.

Murray is already mentoring a number of young athletes in various sports – including tennis – and that would seem to be an arena for which he is well suited.

He said: “I’m not never going to come back here.

“Am I a good watcher? It depends who I’m watching. I hate watching my brother play. I find it difficult to watch my brother play.

“But I love tennis, I watch it all the time.

“I would probably be more comfortable sitting up there watching it in the coaching box rather than somewhere else.”

He revealed why he fancied coaching more than punditry, he revealed: “I didn’t, not because of the people I did it with!

“Just the match, was an unbelievable match, it was four and a half hours. But commentary boxes are tiny and I didn’t enjoy it that much to be honest.”

Murray admitted he wants to keep playing tennis FOREVER – but his broken body has forced him to stop.

The Wimbledon champion was given a special tribute following his doubles loss with brother Jamie to Aussies Rinky Hijikata and John Peers.

And afterwards the 37-year-old, arguably Scotland’s greatest ever athlete, admitted it will be hard to walk away from the sport he loves but he had no choice.

Murray played last night just days after undergoing back surgery and already has a metal hip.

And while he admits he would rather keep playing he knows he is no longer able to play at the level he wants to.

He said: “It is hard because I would love to keep on playing – but I CAN’T. 

“Physically, it’s too tough now. All of the injuries, they have added up, they have not been insignificant.

“I want to play forever, I love the sport, it has given me so much.

“It has taught me loads of lessons over the years. I don’t want to stop. So yeah, it’s hard.”

Murray went on to thank his team for their backing, especially over the past couple of years.

And the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champ and 2012 US Open winner hinted at his frustration at not being able to get back to those levels.

He said: “Thank you to my team for their support. The last few years have been hard for me but also hard for them.

“It’s been hard for all of us, the injuries have been tough, quite significant injuries, we have worked extremely hard to be on the court, probably not at the level we wanted. But we tried.”

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Murray underwent back surgery just a week past Saturday to remove a cyst from his back.

He was unable to recover in time to play one last singles tournament.

But he admitted it was special for him to play alongside Jamie for the first time in the men’s doubles.

He said: “Yeah it was really special, we never got the chance to do it before.

“And just the way things worked out there was a chance this year.

“It was a bit of a race against time to try and get out here. Physically it wasn’t easy.

“But I’m glad we were able to get out and do this one time together.

Murray still has to play mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu.

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But Wimbledon organisers were keen to pay tribute following his match with Jamie.

And Aussies Peers and Hijikata admitted they were honoured to be part of the occasion.

Hijikata said: “It was an honour to be out there, Andy is a true champion.

Peers added: “Jamie and I go back a long time, and this was only the third time I have played on Centre Court. It was great to be part of this day for Andy, he’s a great champion.”

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