The Andy Murray Swansong: Tribute to the two-time Olympic champion
Over two weeks of sheer excitement came to a halt yesterday as the Paris Olympic Games 2024 concluded. We witnessed a range of raw emotions, from adulation to agony, from the ecstasy of standing atop the podium to the despair of narrowly missing out. A period of silence follows now, as tennis athletes pick their bags up and head towards training and we fans direct our attention to the upcoming tournaments, the US Open Grand Slam being the most prominent for tennis enthusiasts. Speaking of tennis, Paris 2024 saw the oldest-ever champion being crowned Olympic champion. Novak Djokovic, the man who has won every possible honor, added the only golden glitter missing in his cabinet. He exacted sweet revenge over the could-have-been-youngest-champion Carlos Alcaraz, who put up a strong show, despite the scoreline displaying a straight-set final. Heartbreak for the Spaniard, crowning glory for the Serbian. While the Paris Olympics proved to be a happy hunting ground for many debutants, as the red dust settles at the magnificent Stade Roland Garros, an illustrious Olympian called time on his tennis career.
Grit, perseverance, and resilience personified; that is Sir Andy Murray for you. His tireless never-say-die attitude was on full display in his last dance at the Olympics, where his fairytale run included saving a whopping seven match points across two rounds alongside his men's doubles partner Dan Evans, before going down in the quarterfinals to eventual bronze medallists, the Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. He bid an emotional farewell at a high-octane tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics on the Parisian clay courts where he has never tasted victory.
Andy Murray has embodied the attitude of never giving up throughout his career.
“Overcome the impossible" is the tagline of Andy Murray's official website and is undeniably the motto that he has lived by his entire career. Over the past two decades, the famed Big 3 comprising Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have demonstrated utter dominance on the tennis court, making it nearly impossible for others to make a breakthrough. It was exactly in this era that Murray claimed three grand slam titles, creating his place in the respected Big 4. Imagine being two sets to love down, staring at an impending defeat. The situation can be physically and mentally tricky for any player, but not for Murray, who has a record of making a successful comeback on eleven such occasions. Nobody had ever defended their tennis Olympic gold. Is such a triumph impossible? Murray achieved this never-seen-before feat with back-to-back gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Playing under the national flag has always been his forte, which led to Britain bringing home the Davis Cup in 2015, after a gap of 79 years, wherein Murray won all of his matches. What if your back, hip, and ankles are injured? It surely must be impossible to play a physically demanding sport like tennis in this situation! But not for Murray, the warrior, who made a comeback every time, despite journalists writing him off. Not all superheroes wear capes, some wear ankle braces.
2016 has been the most successful year in the Briton’s career, as he made the finals of the Australian Open and the French Open, won Wimbledon, defended his Olympic gold, and capped it all off with the ATP Finals, where he defeated the then-defending champion Novak Djokovic, and ended as the year-end World number 1. His work off the court has been commendable too, as he was knighted for wildlife conservation work along with his tennis wizardry. Female tennis players love him for being a vocal feminist; he famously called out journalists who he felt undermined the achievements of women players and he went on to appoint Amelie Mauresmo as his coach.
At his final Wimbledon Championship this year - a tournament he has won twice, after the unfortunate and “astonishing" withdrawal from the mixed doubles, Murray paired up with his brother, the doubles specialist Jamie Murray. Sadly, the duo made a tame exit even as proud mother Judy Murray, a tennis coach herself, looked on. Following this, he announced his retirement, with the Paris Olympics men's doubles being his last event, keeping in mind his battered and bruised body laced with injuries. “I want to play forever,” expressed Murray, which speaks volumes about his dedication towards the sport, and fans too would love to watch him wield his magic wand, the tennis racquet, forever, but nevertheless, we wish him a relaxing retirement.