On the night that Andy Murray returned to Wimbledon, he received a heartfelt farewell from his home Grand Slam.
Murray, who won the tournament in 2013 and 2016, paired up with his brother Jamie to play a men’s doubles match for the first time outside of the Davis Cup. Their partnership was shortlived with the Australian duo of John Peers and Rinky Hijikata knocking them out. However, Thursday night at The All England Club was more than tennis. It was about celebrating the career of somebody who has helped inspire some of British tennis’ brightest prospects, such as Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper.
As part of the presentation, Murray spoke extensively to Sue Barker about his career before answering more questions from journalists in his press conference. A lot was said by the 37-year-old.
Here is a summary of his key quotes.
1) On those who have supported his career. Murray has been coached by the likes of Leon Smith, Mark Petchey, Brad Gilbert, Miles Maclagen, Ivan Lendl, Amelie Mauresmo, Mark Hilton and Jonny O’Mara.
“I’ve had incredible support and I think all the players here know that you can’t do this on your own. You need a team of people supporting you.
“The coaches, strength and conditioning teams, physios. In recent years, surgeons unfortunately as well.
“I’ve had some amazing people working with me over the years. A huge thanks to them for supporting me through this. The last few years have been hard for me but I think hard for them.
“It’s obviously been hard for all of us. The injuries have been tough, and quite significant injuries. We’ve worked extremely hard just to be on the court competing, probably not on the level that any of us wanted but we tried.”
2) On coming back to Wimbledon after retiring this year
“I’m not never going to come back here! It depends who I’m watching. I hate watching my brother. I find it really difficult to watch my brother play. I love tennis. I watch it all the time.
“I would probably be more comfortable sitting up there in a coaching box rather than somewhere else.”
3) Murray on becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years in 2013.
“When I got off the court, I didn’t remember any of what had happened but I have watched that game back a few times and some of the stuff he (Novak Djokovic) was coming up with on the match points was incredible.
“If I had lost that game, it would have been very hard to go on to win. Amazing last game.
“With my tennis, it’s always been a bit of a struggle so that last game was always going to be a bit of a struggle.”
“I did find it pretty stressful, to be honest with you. It wasn’t easy but I obviously had an amazing team of people around me, supporting me through all of that.
“The crowd support obviously made a huge difference. Playing at home is obviously a huge advantage in all sports and I used it that day.
“Novak [Djokovic] had an off day obviously. I just managed to get over the line. I didn’t really actually enjoy it as much as I should’ve done. I just found the whole thing very, very stressful.”
4) His second Wimbledon was triumph
“2016 was really different. I felt way less pressure and the enjoyment I got out of that win was totally different to 2013. I had an amazing evening that night with my all friends and family, properly went out and enjoyed it with the people closest to me.
“Of my Slams, 2016 was my favourite one.”
“I don’t remember much of that night. I had a few drinks and I did unfortunately vomit in the cab on the way home.”‘
5) On facing the Big Three. Murray’s head-to-head records are 11-25 against Novak Djokovic, 7-17 against Rafael Nadal and 11-14 against Roger Federer.
“They were alright weren’t they?
“They weren’t the easiest guys to get past. I was obviously incredibly fortunate to play in this time and I think all tennis fans have been incredibly lucky to witness what they’ve obviously gone on to achieve.
“It’s been incredible to watch what they’ve done. It’s been incredible to be a part of some of the matches in major championships with them over the years.
“I was fortunate to manage to get through them a couple of times in big moments but what a time to be on the tour.”
6) On his Olympic success
“To play in a home Olympic Games at Wimbledon, to beat Roger for once in a big match was nice and then I had a great run in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson as well, it was an amazing week for me.”
7) His loss to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final
“It’s always really difficult to speak after a loss, particularly after a Grand Slam final and being at Wimbledon.
“That’s the closest I had been and it was obviously difficult. It was quite an important moment in my career.
“I’m not saying I’m the most outgoing or bubbly personality, but I think people probably saw how much I cared about the sport for the first time maybe.
“Obviously it was an important match and an important moment in my career.”
8) Why the on-court ceremony in his honour was done on Thursday evening instead of his last-ever match at Wimbledon
“When I was making the decision around the singles, the club spoke to me and said they would like to do something after one of my matches here. I’m thankful to them that they did it because it feels like an ending to me. Whether I deserve it or not, I don’t know. But they did a really, really good job.“
9) On his legacy
“ I find them quite difficult questions for me to answer because I don’t think it’s for me to sort of say, like, how I’d want other people to view me.
There are things in my career that I’m proud of. I certainly didn’t get everything right during my career. I was far from perfect.
I did a really good job of during my career was that, regardless of the highs and lows, whether it was winning tournaments, having difficult losses, an operation, a setback, that I was able to treat, like, the next day, like I always came into work with the same dedication, work ethic, and passion, as I had the day before, regardless of the highs and lows that the sport kind of has thrown at me.”
10) Why it is time to call it a day
“I’m ready to finish playing. I don’t want that to be the case. I would love to play forever. But even though it was a doubles match where physically it’s obviously not as demanding, it’s still really hard for me. My serve speeds and everything are like so far behind where they usually would be. I’m sure that would come back with time once I recover from the injury and everything.”
