EXCLUSIVE: Mats Wilander knows exactly when Andy Murray will decide to retire
Mats Wilander has described how Andy Murray will go about making the decision to retire, and it has very little to do with his physical capabilities.
As a former world number one himself, the Warner Bros. Discovery expert told Tennishead when he believes the three-time Major champion will hang up his racket for good.
Some would assume that the myriad of hip problems faced by Murray will eventually drive him to retirement.
While Wilander is surprised that has not already happened, he disagrees with such predictions.
He said: “Andy Murray is going to retire the day he walks on the court and plays for 10 minutes and realises ‘I actually don’t give a s**t how this match ends, or how it looks.’
“And he’s not going to retire that day because he’s going to finish the match.
“But he’s going to retire very shortly after the first time that he feels that he’s careless about trying to give himself the best chance to play his best tennis and make his opponent the worst possible.
“That’s the day he’s going to go ‘ok that’s it, I’m done.’”
The extinguishing of the fire that drives champions is what Wilander thinks will end Murray’s professional tennis journey.
Once that fire goes out, it is very hard to reignite.
Wilander continued: “Because there is a switch there that is not reachable.
“There is no switch that you can control.
“If somebody else switches that switch, suddenly there is a lack of interest, and there is a place in your brain and your heart that you can’t find.
“You can’t find your way to that part of your brain that is involved in trying to give yourself the best problem-solving.”
Andy Murray has struggled through some of the toughest moments a professional athlete can.
Less than a year after reaching the pinnacle of the sport in late 2016, the Brit suffered what went on to look like a career-ending injury.
After losing in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2017, did not play again until Queen’s the following June, having fallen to 156th in the world in that time.
Murray then played just 37 matches over three years from 2018 to the end of 2020, enduring tough emotions while battling with his body.
However, after undergoing a hip resurfacing surgery in early 2019, his second operation on the area, the Brit has slowly edged his way back up the rankings.
After ending 2021 with a win-loss record of 15-14 and ranked 134th in the world, Murray broke back into the top 100 for the first time since May 2018 when in early February 2022 he reached 95th in the world.
At time of publication, Murray is 68th in the ATP rankings, just 21 spots of where he was in late May 2018 before dropping from 47th to 157th.
Given how long Murray had to fight against injury, Wilander, like many, wrote the 35-year-old off.
Wilander said: “To be honest, I thought he had already reached that place [of losing his way].
“But he’s actually proven me and everybody wrong that he hasn’t.
“He’s still there and he’s still trying to solve problems and that’s the happiest place that he can be on Earth.
“That is being on a tennis court knowing that he’s willing and wants to solve the problem that he’s involved in.
“Of course being at home with his family I’m sure those situations make him as happy or happier.
“But in terms of playing tennis, it’s not practising, it’s not the locker room, it’s not talking to the media.
“It is being there on the court, willing to listen to his emotions and then picking a choice.
“Then when they are the right ones he’s going to be the happiest tennis player that has every lived.
“And he’s doing it right now.”
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