Andy Murray has admitted he might ‘just stop playing’ at the end of his career rather than announce his retirement, as he looks to avoid the ‘pressure’ that a public declaration on his future would put on his final tournaments.
The 35-year-old is not expected to retire imminently but did lose to British number one Cam Norrie in a tight match at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday.
Murray took the first set and looked back to his best at times, but he was hampered by cramp late on as Norrie came back to register his first win against the Scot.
‘When I had the injury problems a few years ago and didn’t know whether I was going to be able to play, I maybe always envisaged finishing my career in the UK or whatever,’ Murray said, according to Eurosport.
‘There is part of it I think when you announce that you’re retiring that I would imagine psychologically it’s quite difficult, as well. There is a lot of pressure then, I think because you want to perform and because it’s the last couple of tournaments.
‘Just the whole situation puts a lot of stress on the performance. So I don’t know whether I would announce something or whether I would just stop and that would be it. I don’t know.’
The former Wimbledon champion also spoke about the cramp he suffered towards the end of the match. He said: ‘I think pretty much every tennis player in their career has cramped usually in these sorts of conditions that we have had [in Cincinnati].
‘But the consistency of it for me is a big concern. It’s not something that I have really experienced. I have experienced cramping but not consistently over a number of tournaments.
‘It’s not easy to play when it gets bad like it was at the end. I feel like it had an impact on the end of the match.
‘I’m not saying whether I would for sure win the match or not, but it certainly affected the way that I played.’
Murray, who has been hampered by a string of injuries in his career in recent years, has won three Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals.
