Exclusive – Former coach suggests Andy Murray ‘deserves red carpet’ treatment to end his career

Kevin Palmer
Andy Murray at Wimbledon

Andy Murray’s former coach Alex Corretja has urged the three-time Grand Slam champion to give tennis fans a warning before he calls time on his career, so that he can lap up the adulation he is due.

The two-time Wimbledon champion has played just ten matches at ATP Tour level since the start of 2020, as he struggles to perform consistently at the highest level after hip surgery.

Now the coach who worked with Murray between 2008 and 2011 believes the 34-year-old should not shy away from an emotional farewell to the game when the time is right.

“He knows this is the end of his career and he just needs to give it 100 per-cent of what he has. He needs to enjoy it now,” Corretja told Tennis365 at a Eurosport event.

“Probably he had one or two more years and he should just go into the tournaments he plays like it is the end of his career.

“I remember Stefan Edberg saying it was his last year. He said he was retiring at the end of the season and for that last year, everywhere he went people knew he was leaving. When you have been such a star and such an important champion in the history of the game, it’s good that you go out and everyone knows it’s happening.

“If you have been Andy Murray, world No.1, Grand Slams, you deserve all the red carpet. You deserve to be on Centre Court.

“Knowing him, if he’s trying to come back it’s because he wants to be competitive he wants to win.”

Andy Murray’s new Castore collection

Corretja also gave his verdict on the theory that Murray does not deserve to be handed wildcards into tournaments given his lack of matches in recent years.

Eurosport analyst and former world No 1 Mats Wilander started a debate when we suggested Murray did not justify a wildcard into last year’s French Open, but Corretja suggests those comments not given the appropriate analysis.

“I think what Mats said was misinterpreted,” he added, after Murray lost in straight set to Stay Wawrinka in Paris last year.

“If you are not ready to play best of five-set matches on clay, maybe you should think about what you should do. That’s what Mats was saying. When you look at it from this perspective, it is a little more understandable.

 

“What he was trying say was if Andy wants to play at Roland-Garros, it is because you really feel you are fit to do it and to compete.

“Maybe for Andy, I feel it was important to play that match against Wawrinka because to play best of five sets on clay, you need to be fully fit from the first round.

“So I think it is a smart move from Andy to focus on grass courts this summer. His chances to do well at Roland-Garros are very small, but he can feel like he has a better chance on grass.

“He is getting older and he needs to select his tournaments a little. For Andy, that means focusing on his best surface, which is grass.”

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