Andy Murray has claimed that he will skip the Olympic Games later this year if he does not believe he has a chance of winning a medal. The Brit says he will not compete purely because it is his ‘last tournament’.
Murray announced earlier this month that he intends to retire from tennis at the end of the summer, having endured a torrid run of form over the last few months which has only fuelled speculation about his future further.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was particularly vague when outlining his plans for the remainder of the campaign, shying away from pinpointing specific competitions that he would compete at. Instead, he simply said that he would not be playing ‘much past this summer’.
Murray has since revealed that he was somewhat elusive about the situation as he is unsure whether he will compete at the Olympic Games later this year. Speaking to The Times, the former world No. 1 only wants to play at the tournament if there is a chance that he will win a medal for his efforts.
He explained: “I would love the chance to play in another Olympics but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal. I’m also very conscious as well that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots because it is a brilliant opportunity.
“We have top doubles players [Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked inside the world’s top ten] and also Jack [Draper], Cam [Norrie] and Evo [Dan Evans] in singles as well. I don’t want to be in a position where I’m getting selected to play there just because it might be the last tournament that I play. That’s why there is a bit of uncertainty about the summer, because I’m not sure what will happen with that.”
Murray won gold at the Olympics in 2012 before defending his crown a year later, though his focus will be on earning victory in doubles this year rather than singles. If the 36-year-old is included in the team then Salisbury appears to be his likeliest partner, having competed with him in 2021 when the pair reached the quarter-finals in Tokyo.
“When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles,” Murray continued. “I had a slight tear in my right quad before the tournament, so I chose to pull out of the singles and go for doubles. That probably would be one of my toughest losses, actually, because we were a set up with 4-3 and game point on my serve in the quarters.”
