Murray retired after losing in the men’s doubles at the quarter-final stage of the Paris Olympics in August.
British Andy Murray announced that he did not miss tennis as much as he thought after his retirement and said that he felt “really free”.
Murray, 37, retired at the Olympics in August after an impressive 19-year career in which he won twice at Wimbledon, once at the US Open, and won gold medals in men’s singles at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. The Scottish athlete had many injury problems towards the end of his career and had hip surgery in 2019. Murray said he initially expected “to have a hard time in retirement and to miss tennis a lot.” But Murray found himself enjoying the freedom that came with his playing days over. “Since quitting I feel really free and have plenty of time to do whatever I want,” Murray told BBC Radio 4.
Murray, who played 1,001 singles matches throughout his career, found being separated from his four children and wife Kim for extended periods of time trying to balance parenting and playing tennis complicated. “I’ve always had a hard time with this over the last few years, always feeling guilty about what I was doing,” Murray explained. “When I went on a trip for 3-4 weeks, I felt guilty about leaving my kids behind or my wife for being away from them for long periods of time, so it was hard to miss the kids,” Murray added.
