Andy Murray held back tears as he waved goodbye to tennis at the Paris Olympics.
The Scottish star’s defiance finally ran out on Thursday night (1 August) as his stellar career ended with defeat alongside Dan Evans in the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles.
Twenty-one years after his first professional match and 19 since he announced his talent to the world at Wimbledon as a wild-haired teenager with a huge heart, Murray’s hopes of a medal-winning swansong evaporated in a 6-2 6-4 loss to American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
And so concludes one of the great British sporting innings, with the 37-year-old breaking the mould by winning two Wimbledon titles and a US Open crown as well as starring for his country at the Olympics and in the Davis Cup.
