Andy Murray suggested he could retire from tennis within a “few months” after coming from a set down to earn his second win of the year in Dubai.
The Scotsman, who had been on a six-match losing run until last week when he picked up his first victory of 2024 in Doha, beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday.
The gruelling victory over Shapovalov, ranked 120th in the world, was the 500th hard-court win of his career, making the 36-year-old only the fifth male player to achieve the record after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi.
But asked about reports last week that he had told his coach during a defeat that the game was “not for me any more”, Murray said: “People read a lot into what I say on court. Sometimes it’s not always rational, but everyone asks me about it [retirement] all the time anyway.
“So yeah, look, I obviously still love competing, I still love the game. It gets harder and harder the older you get to compete with the young guys and keep your body fit and fresh. It’s not easy.
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“I probably don’t have too long left, but I’ll do the best I can these last few months.”
Murray’s potential retirement has been up for discussion since he had hip-replacement surgery in 2019.
The three-times grand-slam champion also grappled with a knee injury during his win over Alexandre Müller last week, which required treatment early in the first set.
Jack Draper gained a measure of revenge for his Australian Open defeat by Tommy Paul by defeating the American in convincing style in Mexico overnight. The Briton, who lost to Paul in the second round in Melbourne, needed only 84 minutes to see off the seventh seed 6-0, 6-4 and will now face Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
It was less good news for Draper’s compatriot Dan Evans however, the British No 2 failing to make the most of a fast start as he ended up losing 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 to the world No 17 Ben Shelton.
