Tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios says British legend Andy Murray didn’t retire ‘gracefully’ and feels he should’ve called time on his career a lot sooner.
Australian star Kyrgios, known for his explosive behaviour on the court and outspoken views off it, made the comment in a new interview with Louis Theroux.
The British-American documentarian sat down with 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios, 29, and asked him if he had been plotting to hang up his own racket.
Kyrgios responded by bringing up Murray’s retirement – which occurred after the Olympic Games in Paris earlier this year – and suggested that the British hero ‘crawled to the finish line’ after various injuries and surgeries in his twilight years.
‘No,’ Kyrgios told The Louis Theroux Podcast when quizzed if he had retired from professional singles tennis himself, given he’s not played an ATP Tour match this year and only managed one in 2023 amid significant knee and wrist injuries.
‘But at the same time, I look at how Andy Murray’s doing it now, and how Rafael [Nadal] is going out, I don’t want to be like that either, I don’t want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense.
‘What Andy Murray’s achieved in this sport is second to basically no one, like, unless you’re Novak, Federer, or Nadal, like, the next person is Andy Murray. It’s like you’ve achieved everything. You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he’s done. I think, that the surgeries, the pain, it’s just not worth it, in my opinion.’
Murray officially confirmed his retirement from tennis after playing his final professional match at Paris 2024 in doubles alongside fellow Brit Dan Evans.
The 37-year-old called time on his career with two Wimbledon titles, two Olympic gold medals, the US Open and the Davis Cup in his trophy cabinet.
Murray ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men’s singles champion in 2013, which sparked emotional scenes up and down the country.
He struggled badly with injuries in his last few active years but made a shock comeback with a metal hip and remarkably went on to land even more silverware.
Murray was told by a doctor that he’d never play professional tennis again because of his hip – but he ignored that advice – working his way back into the world top 50, winning the European Open, reaching three more ATP Tour finals, winning the Queen’s Club doubles title and lifting three Challenger Tour trophies.
Since entering retirement, Murray has turned his attentions towards golf and recently emerged victorious at the inaugural Mike Dickson Golf Day after he played in the BMW PGA Championship’s Pro-Am event at Wentworth.