Relaxed Murray surprised he does not miss playing

Andy Murray has revealed retirement has been “the complete opposite” to what he expected and that he is not missing tennis like he thought he would.

The 37-year-old Briton, a three-time Grand Slam champion, called time on his illustrious 19-year career after the Paris Olympics in August.

Murray underwent a hip resurfacing operation in 2019 and had various injury struggles during the final few years of his career.

“Since I’ve stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want,” Murray told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms.

“It is really nice and I didn’t expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour.

“So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking.”

The 37-year-old won his first Grand Slam in 2012 at the US Open before ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s Wimbledon champion in 2013 when he defeated Novak Djokovic, before winning it again in 2016.

Murray, who won Olympic gold in the singles at London 2012 and Rio 2016, played the final match of his career at Paris 2024, losing in the doubles quarter-finals after epic comeback wins in the previous two rounds.

He acknowledged there was no “perfect ending” for a tennis player but revealed he was now feeling guilt-free around his four children and wife Kim.

“The thing that I always found difficult in recent years was that there was always a guilt associated with what I was doing,” Murray, who played 1,001 singles matches in his career, added.

“If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard.

“But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training.

“I was then thinking ‘is this going to affect my training or performance the next day, should I have my feet up?’ I found that stuff difficult over the last few years.”

It was not just the latter years of his career Murray found difficult, with the media criticism in his glory days also presenting struggles.

The Briton felt even though he was “extremely successful” there was something he was “failing at” because of the high expectations put upon him.

“It was really hard for me at times, reaching the final at Wimbledon and being criticised for your work or feeling you are not good enough,” he added.

“Which I think is wrong and I don’t know if that would be the case in every country.

“It might have not been the case, but my perception was I was feeling I was being attacked even when I was doing really well, and that was pretty hard.”

Murray wants to stay involved in sport and will continue to “love tennis” but is turning his focus to the golf course.

Despite not being able to play much in recent years because of back and hip problems, he is still determined to push himself.

“I want to get to scratch, whether that is possible or not I don’t know,” Murray said.

“I’ve got a lot of time on my hands to practise.” – bbc.com