Andy Murray has said 2024 is likely to be his final year on tour unless he can deliver a substantial improvement on last season’s performances.
Preparing to open the new campaign in Brisbane – where he has drawn old foe Grigor Dimitrov in the first round – Murray said his patchy form over the second half of 2023 had not supplied enough satisfaction to justify all the effort he puts in.
“If I was in a situation like I was at the end of last year, then I probably wouldn’t go again,” he told BBC Sport. “But then if physically I’m doing well and my results are good and I’m playing well, then that’s enjoyable and I could see myself still playing.
“We’ll see how the year goes, see how the body holds up. If things are going well, I’d love to keep going. But if they’re not, and I’m not enjoying it, it could be the last year, yes.”
At 36, Murray is trying to recapture some of the gilded moments that he enjoyed in his prime, but an ageing body and a metal hip do not make the job any easier. He admitted that his off-season had been disrupted by both illness and minor injury.
He tweaked his shoulder in November, which meant that he was unable to serve at full power for several weeks, and then picked up a virus on the way to warm-weather training in Dubai. Also, a bruised meniscus in his knee meant that he was restricted in his movement.
“I was able to still practise and do lots of training,” said Murray, who has fitted in a session with Rafael Nadal since arriving in Brisbane last week. “But it’s just there was certain stuff I wasn’t able to do – like playing points and full-out sprinting and changes of direction
