Andy Murray and Dan Evans delivered as close to a fairytale ending as you could probably get after the Brit official retired from tennis at the Olympics.
With Dan Evans sacrificing his ATP ranking to play alongside Andy Murray in the Paris Olympics, the pair forged a remarkable run to the quarter-finals.
Surviving countless match points in their opening two matches, a meeting with the eventual bronze medallists, American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, saw the British pair eventually bow out.
It was a teary farewell with Fritz describing his role in Murray’s retirement as bittersweet.
Having been plagued by a back injury at Wimbledon, it initially looked like Murray’s exit would be underwhelming for all parties.
Andy Murray is surprisingly enjoying his tennis retirement
With Murray taking up golf immediately, the Scot has been settling in to retirement quite seamlessly.
As rumours circulated that Murray may move into tennis coaching, the Scot has yet to really decide what his next venture might be.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Murray explained what’s really shocked him in the early stages of his retirement.
“Since I’ve stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want,” he told the BBC.
“I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms. It is really nice and I didn’t expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour.
“So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking,” the three-time Grand Slam champion concluded.
Andy Murray’s retirement has welcomed Jack Draper to the stage
There are certainly less important things to feel defeated by, however the impact Murray had on the entirety of British sport was so great, even the most apathetic his retirement.
However, within the same month of memories teary Parisian goodbye, Jack Draper was gathering momentum.
A formidable summer which saw the 22-year-old pick up his first ATP title and Stuttgart came just moments before he dumped defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out of Queen’s.
Draper’s controversial run in Cincinnati still saw him reach the last eight, before going one better at the US Open.
Having only ever reached the fourth round of a major, which he achieved 12 months ago in New York, Draper didn’t lose a set until his gruelling semi-final defeat to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
Murray’s impact on Draper is something the 22-year-old has shared during his form at Flushing, with Martina Navratilova tipping Draper for 2025 Grand Slam success.
As the old makes way for the new, an exciting new chapter for British tennis has just begun.
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