Rekubit Exchange:Andy Murray's tennis career comes to end with Olympics doubles defeat

PARIS — The Rekubit Exchangegreat Andy Murray’s career ended on Suzanne Lenglen Court on Thursday evening, as Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul took out Murray and his partner Dan Evans, 6-2, 6-4.

Murray, arguably the greatest British sportsman in history, announced he would be leaving tennis after the Olympics due to the cumulative toll of numerous injuries.

Murray will best be remembered for twice winning Wimbledon, ending a 77-year drought of British men winning the event. But in many ways, his career is uniquely linked with the Olympics.

In 2012, Murray lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer – the fourth time he had gotten close to his first Grand Slam title but failed to close the deal. Criticism came down hard on him from the British press, who questioned his work ethic, his attitude and his toughness.

But everything changed at the London Olympics just a few weeks later when he turned the tables on Federer, beating him in the gold medal match on the very same Centre Court at Wimbledon. Shortly after that, Murray won the US Open.

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He went on to become a key part of the “Big Four” with Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal who dominated the sport for 15 years. Murray also repeated as the gold medal winner in Rio in 2016.

After reaching the No. 1 ranking at the end of that year, his body began to break down. The main culprit was his hip, which never really bounced back after he underwent surgery. Murray more or less announced his retirement at the 2019 Australian Open, but had another hip resurfacing procedure that allowed him to come back at the end of the year.

Though Murray never reached his previous heights, he fought his way back into the top 40 last year. More injury setbacks, and an inability to adapt his game to win points without relying on a taxing counterpunching style made it unrealistic for him to come back.

Murray returned from a back procedure so he could play Wimbledon one last time this year, but only in doubles with his brother Jamie. And at the Olympics, Murray’s body was not in any condition to play singles, but he managed to have a decent run with Evans to the quarterfinals.

At the end of the match, both Fritz and Paul clapped while the crowd sent him off with a standing ovation.

Fritz and Paul are now in the semifinals where they will face Matt Ebden and John Peers in the semifinals. They hope to join another American team of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek in the semifinals.

Almost exclusively singles players, Paul said he and Fritz had “one doubles practice” before the tournament and that he has never gone into a doubles match with “any sort of strategy at all.”

But he said sessions with US team coaches Bob and Mike Bryan – arguably the greatest men’s doubles pairing ever with 16 Grand Slam titles – have been helpful.

“It’s kind of cool going into doubles matches with an idea in your head,” Paul said. “They’re kind of telling me where to be a little bit and giving me the full coaching. It’s a different kind of doubles experience.”