Andy Murray has admitted that he doesn’t believe the upcoming US Open is part of Serena Williams’ “storyline” as she prepares to play her final tournament. The 23-time Major champion recently announced that she would be “evolving away from tennis” with her home Grand Slam expected to be the place she retires, though Murray has “low expectations” for her run.
Williams’ legendary career will be coming to an end at the upcoming US Open following the 40-year-old’s recent retirement announcement. While the American did not put a date on her final match, her home Grand Slam tournament is the only one left in her schedule and is expected to be the last of her career.
The former world No 1 sent shockwaves through the tennis world when she announced her decision to “evolve away from tennis”, with Murray one of the players who admitted he was initially saddened and shocked to hear the news. And the three-time Major champion has now reflected on Williams’ decision, admitting that he wants her retirement to be about her legacy instead of her results at the US Open.
“I haven’t spoken to her about it,” he revealed, days before the start of the final Major of the year. “I mean to me, I don’t think what she achieves at the US Open doesn’t feel like part of the storyline to me. She has hardly played in the last few years. Expectations on her run should be very low.”
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Murray, who joined forces with Williams for the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon back in 2019, has previously spoken about how he wanted the US Open to be a celebration of the 73-time singles title winner’s career and doubled-down on his comments. He continued: “The celebrations of her career should be really, really high.
“I spoke about it a bit last week. I do feel when I first found out, I was sad about it, but at the same time, she will probably want this week to be about everything she has achieved, having a really nice send-off. It being more of a celebration rather than being really upset that it is the end.”
The 35-year-old also reflected on the legacy that the younger Williams sister would leave behind, branding her the GOAT of women’s tennis as he struggled to describe just how big her impact was. “Look, her and Venus have had a massive impact on the sport,” he started.
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“They had Oscar-winning movies made about their careers. It is quite rare in all sports, but she is much bigger than tennis, she is a proper global sports superstar. Pretty much everywhere she goes. I think she will go down as the greatest female player of all time in my opinion. I don’t know what else to say.
“I mean you listen to all of the players talking about her and she has dominated over multiple decades and been around for such a long time that I cannot even remember watching tennis at a time when she wasn’t playing. All of the younger female players I listened to while growing up, she was the one that they watched as children and all talk about how she inspired them as well. I think she has had an impact on lots of the players. She has had an impact far bigger outside of the sport as well.”
Andy Murray is wearing The Drive Collection from his signature AMC range during this year’s US Open, created to deliver a new standard in tennis performance clothing. View the kit at www.castore.com/
