Murray delays retirement with extraordinary Olympics win

Andy Murray delayed his retirement as a scarcely believable escape act saw the British tennis great and Dan Evans save five match points to win their Olympics men’s doubles opener.

Murray, 37, confirmed last week that the Paris Games would be his final event before retiring from the sport he loves.

His storied career looked to be heading to an end before a remarkable recovery saw the British pair win 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 11-9 against Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori.

“The way we were playing to that stage would not have suggested we were likely to come back,” said Murray.

“Certainly from my side I felt I was not playing well. Evo played well at times, but for both of us we could play much better.

“It all clicked at the end.”

When Daniel netted on the Britons’ first match point, Murray and Evans looked stunned and almost unsure how to react.

They had trailed 9-4 in the deciding tie-break, at which point defeat seemed inevitable, with the subsequent turnaround leaving Murray and Evans almost as gobsmacked as anyone.

Evans swivelled towards his team-mate and leapt towards him as they shared an emotional hug.

Even Murray’s mother Judy, watching from the stands like she has done through his career, had almost written him off.

“I was mentally working out which flight I would get home tonight,” she told BBC Sport.

“But you can never write him off.”

Murray and Evans do not yet know who they will face in the second round.

French eighth seeds Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert take on Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen on Monday for the right to play the Britons.

Playing at a fifth Olympics marks the last stop-off on a tumultuous journey which has taken Murray to three Grand Slam titles and the top of the world rankings.

He is the only tennis player to have won two Olympics singles titles, having taken back-to-back gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Paris 2024 feels like a fitting place to finish his career but, like Murray has long acknowledged, there is no “perfect ending” for a tennis player.

Winning another Olympic medal alongside Evans, playing in his first Games aged 34, will be as good as it could be.

The chances of that looked slim with Murray and Evans on course to fall at the first hurdle against their Japanese opponents.

Neither of the British pair has showed great form this year and both have been hampered by injuries.

Murray only had surgery to remove a cyst from his back six weeks ago – the latest of a series of physical problems to have hampered him in recent years.

In truth, it has been remarkable he is even playing at these Games given all the fitness issues he has had.

In 2019, he thought he would have to retire because of a hip injury – famously breaking down in tears at an Australian Open news conference when he revealed his fears.

Not only did he return to play with a metal cap in his hip socket, Murray has won ATP trophies and earned a series of eye-catching Grand Slam match victories.

Evans, for his part, also feared the worst earlier on Sunday.

He fell during a singles win against Tunisia’s Moez Echargui and initially worried he might have done enough damage to rule him out of Murray’s farewell.

Thankfully, those concerns were short of the mark as Roland Garros gave us another memorable night in Murray’s career.

“In my career I’ve turned a lot of matches around that I maybe looked unlikely to win or what people thought I should not have won,” said Murray, who has won more five-set singles matches from two sets down than any player in history.

“I’ve had that mental toughness and strength which at times, certainly early in my career, was questioned. I’m proud of that side of things.

“I’ve always tried to fight and figure out ways to come through and I couldn’t have done that on my own today.

“Evo played a huge, huge part in that. He helped me big time today.”

Neither Murray nor Evans has produced a fightback quite like that.

When Daniel hammered away a forehand to bring up five match points, roaring as he lunged towards the court on one knee, nobody inside Court Suzanne Lenglen would have predicted what was about to unfold.

Here is how the Britons turned things around, point by point:

5-9: Murray whacks a serve out wide which Daniel can’t reach.

6-9: A second serve from Murray is tamely clumped long by Nishikori, who bends to his knees in disgust.

7-9: Nishikori hits a double fault.

8-9: After a short baseline exchange, Nishikori slides forward and pats a tame forehand into the net.

9-9: Back on serve, Evans lands a first serve and sticks away a drive volley winner to level.

10-9: After the change of ends, an Evans serve is looped back by Nishikori and bounces just over the baseline with Evans scampering.

11-9 – GB win: Murray hits a forehand service return which Daniel reaches but sticks into the net.

This was the cue for pandemonium among the British contingent within the thousands in the stadium.

The British pair had somehow dug themselves out of a deep hole on the French clay.

“Obviously at the end of the match I was jumping around and I was so happy – but as we were getting back, I felt pretty calm and played my best at the end,” said Murray.

For Evans, who was kept out of the Tokyo Olympics after a positive Covid test, winning alongside Murray was his second gritty success of the day.

The British number three fell over in the second set against Tunisia’s Echargui, with blood streaming from his knee and, more worryingly, needing treatment on his wrist and back.

However, he recovered to win 6-2 4-6 6-2 and will play Greek eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round – although he maintains he will prioritise the doubles with Murray.

Other British singles interest saw men’s number one Jack Draper beat Nishikori 6-1 6-4, but Katie Boulter – the nation’s leading women’s player – exited.

Boulter lost 6-4 6-2 to Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, saying afterwards she was unwell and feeling dizzy.

Earlier, Cameron Norrie withdrew before his opening match against Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands because of an arm injury.