A typically emotional Andy Murray delivered one of the most tear-jerking press conferences tennis has ever known in Melbourne back in 2019.
“I’ve pretty much done everything that I could to get my hip feeling better... I can still play to a level, not a level that I’m happy playing at. The pain is too much really… I told my team I can’t keep doing this, and I needed to have an end point because I was playing with no idea of when the pain was going to stop.
“I said to my team I think I can get through this until Wimbledon, that’s where I’d like to stop playing. But I’m also not certain I’m able to do that.”
Four years on, and Murray keeps defying the odds and captivating audiences. He even had Novak Djokovic stopping in his tracks to watch on as he beat Matteo Berrettini in five sets at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
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It was one of a number of extremely courageous performances Murray has put in since his hip first became a huge issue back in 2017.
Defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut – Australian Open First Round 2019
The great Scot might not have actually won this one, but this was the match which followed that emotional admission that his career may be ending. And it was one gutsy as hell display.
Down by two sets and a break, Murray just kept on fighting despite clearly struggling with the limitations of his faltering body. He won the third set on a tie-break, then repeated the feat in the fourth to send the match to an unlikely decider. Bautista Agut won it 6-2, but Murray said he was leaving with no regrets if that was indeed the end of his glittering career.
“I’ve loved playing here over the years, it’s an amazing place to play tennis. If this was my last match, an amazing match to end.”
Beat Stan Wawrinka – European Open Final 2019
Just nine months later, Murray was sobbing once more. This time with pure joy.
Having undergone pioneering hip resurfacing surgery, he was able to compete to a decent level again. In September and October he took part in consecutive tournaments at Zhuhai, Beijing, Shanghai and the European Open in Antwerp as his new hip got a real workout for the first time. So when he made an unlikely run to the final in Belgium, it was already a success story.
Having lost the first set to old foe Stan Wawrinka, Murray was brilliant in the second and third, storming back to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and spark incredible scenes at the end as he sat in his chair, covered his face and let all his emotions out.
“I didn’t feel prepared, really, to win,” he said afterwards, but his one tour victory since March 2017 was worth all the battles he had fought away from the court.
Beat Yoshihito Nishioka – US Open First Round 2020
There’s just something about Andy Murray and five-set thrillers. With his various injury lay-offs and the Covid-19 outbreak, 2020 was something of a non-event of a year for Murray, but there was one sparkling performance to savour in amongst it all.
He saved a match point in the fourth set as he battled back from two sets down to beat Japanese lefty Nishioka 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 in an absorbing contest even by the three-time Grand Slam champ’s standards. It was an example of supreme ability, stubbornness and will to win.
Beat Nikoloz Basilashvili – Australian Open First Round 2022
“It is amazing,” Murray said after his first win in Melbourne since THAT ‘farewell’. “It has been a tough three or four years. It is a lot of hard work to get back here.
“I have played on this court many times. The atmosphere is always incredible. This is where I thought I had potentially played my last match three years ago. It is great to be back. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Again, it was a five-set marathon of more than four hours – which had a knock-on effect in the next round as he lost to Taro Daniel – but it was Murray at his most courageous once again.
Beat Matteo Berrettini – Australian Open First Round 2023
And he just keeps coming back. Four years on from his potential goodbye, and five-and-a-half years since his walking-pace exit to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon which first underlined the extent of his hip trouble, Murray has everyone in thrall still.
Having seen the Italian fight back from two sets down to earn a match point at 5-4 in the fifth, it would have been easy for Murray to throw in the towel. But just as he has done for the last half-a-decade, he showed that he is made of tougher stuff. His 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, 7-6 win was another for this incredible scrapbook of memories which come entirely from a desire to keep on delivering on the tennis court long after he was the very best in the world.
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