Martina Navratilova feels Andy Murray is “doing the right thing” by not telling the press exactly when he will retire, saying it becomes exhausting when every tournament is turned into “a massive goodbye”.
On the back of constant questions over his playing future, Murray snapped in February as he confirmed he is “likely not gonna play past the summer” adding that he is “bored” of the rumours surrounding his retirement.
You know, I get asked about it (retirement) after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play, and I’m bored of the question to be honest,” the former world No 1 said.
“And yeah, I’m not gonna talk about that more between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But yeah, I don’t plan on playing much past this summer.”
Yet the speculation hasn’t stopped as the next big question is “What will Andy Murray’s last tournament be?”
Navratilova knows a thing or two about constantly having to field questions about her retirement so she knows exactly what Murray is going through.
“It’s exhausting to have to deal with the press like that for Andy,” the 18-time Grand Slam singles winner told Sky Sports Tennis. “I was asked since I was about 25 years old, how much longer are you going to play?
“Finally, I said ‘I’ll let you know when I’m going to retire’ and so in 1993 I said the next year will be my last year, but I wish I hadn’t done that because every tournament was a massive goodbye and it was exhausting.
“They’d give you a key to the city or a picture, but it was exhausting. I got a Harley-Davidson in the end – thank you Virginia Slims. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t tell the press.
Navratilova finally retired from full-time singles competition in 1994 although she made brief WTA appearances a few years later.
However, she still played doubles action and won her final Grand Slam in the mixed doubles alongside Bob Bryan at the 2006 US Open as she became the oldest major winner at the age of 49 years and 10 months and she official called it a day at the end of that year.
As for Murray, the former world No 1 shares in his frustration – both in terms of the retirement questions and his own form.
She added: “I think Andy is doing the right thing not telling them, whether he knows it or not. It’s easier not to tell anyone if you don’t know what you’re going to do but it’s frustrating when you’re not winning when you’re used to winning.
“He’s putting in all the work, all the knowledge, but the results are not there for whatever reason then you can’t enjoy it as much and it’s hard to keep getting motivated for mediocrity. Andy is not mediocre and you feel you are mediocre when you’re ranked 40 or 50.
“When you feel like you can’t win the big one anymore when you’ve already won the big one, then it gets too frustrating after a while. But Andy will retire on his own terms – there is no right or wrong way to do it.”
