"I've lost about 11, 12 pounds, it's a lot" - Andy Murray reflects on his promise to wife Kim Sears and surprising weight loss after retirement
Andy Murray has revealed that he has surprisingly lost weight following his retirement from tennis at the Paris Olympics earlier this year. According to Murray, his expectation was the exact opposite.
Murray, a former World No. 1, played his last competitive match as a tennis player in men's doubles at the Paris Games, having earlier pulled out from singles. The three-time Major winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist paired up with Dan Evans, and the duo reached the quarterfinals. Here, they were ousted by eventual bronze medalists Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, thus bringing Murray's illustrious career to an end.
The 37-year-old recently laid bare that he has not been to the gym in several weeks, despite having previously told his wife Kim that he would "stay in good shape." Andy Murray's admission came during his appearance at a celebrity pro-am event in the buildup to the BMW PGA Championship.
"I haven't been to the gym for five weeks. I said to my wife, I was like, Look, I'm going to make sure when I stop, I'm going to make sure I stay in good shape. And she said: ‘Oh, if you're just going to go and play golf, I don't want that’. I was : ‘No, no, I'll get myself in the gym, make sure I stay in shape’," Andy Murray said.
However, the former World No. 1 went on to say that a holiday in Scotland disrupted his gym routine.
"I went to the gym three of the first four days after I stopped, worked really hard, and then went up to Scotland for a couple of days for a holiday, and haven't been back since. It's been five weeks I've not been in the gym, longest ever for me probably," Murray added.
The three-time Grand Slam champion concluded by speculating that his weight loss may be a result of losing muscle mass and not calories.
"I don't know if it's like appetite, if I'm not eating as much, but we obviously have like loads of the sport drinks have got lot of calories in them, and I only really drink water and coffee now. So I don't know, I think just less calories and probably loss of muscle. I've lost about 11, 12 pounds. It's a lot. I was expecting the opposite to happen," Murray concluded.
Earlier this month, Murray had stated that despite his previous concerns that he would miss tennis after retirement, the reality has been far from it.
Andy Murray is enjoying "free time" after spending almost two decades as a professional tennis player
During a recent appearance on Today, a BBC Radio 4 production, Andy Murray reflected on how retirement has felt so far to him. The 37-year-old admitted that as he was inching closer to his retirement, he was worried that he would terribly miss being a tennis player.
However, according to Murray, that's not the way things are going at all because he is enjoying the fact that he has more time to give to his children and his hobbies.
"Since I’ve stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want. 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," Andy Murray said.
Andy Murray's tennis legacy is profound, primarily due to the fact that his 46 titles on the ATP Tour came in an era during which Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic were the dominant forces.
However, in his prime, Murray always held his own and consistently challenged the Big Three for the biggest titles and would have arguably won more Majors had he played in a different era.