Andy Murray says what he found ‘really difficult’ during the final years of his tennis career

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Andy Murray played his final professional tournament at the Paris Olympics in August before calling time on his illustrious 19-year tennis career.

It became a slightly agonizing watch towards the end with a visibly frustrated and hurting Andy Murray convincing himself there was plenty left in the tank.

The Paris Olympics proved that Murray may well have been right in some sense. Partnered by Dan Evans, the British duo survived countless match points in the Olympic doubles before finally exiting to America’s eventual bronze medallists Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the last eight.

A frustrating Wimbledon outing saw Murray force himself on to court while recovering from a back injury.

Paris was his final shot before the curtain came down and the Scot made the most of the competition he previously won twice in 2012 and 2016.

Leaving on his own terms was clearly always important for the 37-year-old and he has since settled into retirement rather seamlessly.

Andy Murray reveals the guilt he suffered during his tennis career

With Murray’s blunt, dour humour, a slightly disconcerting element to fans expecting more whimsy and eccentricity, it certainly wasn’t love at first sight.

However, with Murray not only finding success on court and displaying his emotions in often truly raw ways, he has since been welcomed in and remains one of the nation’s favourite sporting star.

In a recent interview however with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Murray revealed the extreme guilt he often faced during the latter stages of his career.

“The thing that I always found difficult in recent years was that there was always a guilt associated with what I was doing,” the two-time Wimbledon champion explained.

“If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard. But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training.

“I was then thinking ‘is this going to affect my training or performance the next day, should I have my feet up?’ I found that stuff difficult over the last few years.”

How has Andy Murray been spending his retirement?

He’d certainly be within his rights to just prop his feet up and take a well-earned breather, indeed Murray explained how his retirement has been the ‘complete opposite’ to what he expected.

Instead however, Murray has taken up golf and is set to partner fellow Scot Robert MacIntyre at the British PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am tournament in a week’s time.

Tim Henman suggested Murray might go into tennis coaching, and with ‘Murray protege’, 17-year-old Charlie Robertson making the semi-finals of the Junior US Open, perhaps it remains a possibility.