Andy Murray vows to fight through “terrible moment”; Roddick, Navratilova back Brit

On Monday, Andy Murray dropped to 0-3 on the year when Benoit Paire battled back to win their Montpellier opener, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. The 36-year-old was playing his first tournament since exiting the Australian Open in a straight-set defeat to Tomas Martin Etcheverry, while Paire hadn’t celebrated a tour-level win since August 2022.

Murray had said following his Melbourne loss that “I have an idea of what I would probably like to finish playing. So much of that depends on how you're playing. The time frame for that narrows when you play and have results like today.”

By Tuesday, Murray was on X (formerly Twitter) reacting to an article published by the BBC that questioned whether his run of results were ‘damaging’ his legacy.

In his response to the author’s post, the three-time major winner vowed that the rough patch won’t prompt him to hang up his racquet.

“I’m in a terrible moment right now I’ll give you that. Most people would quit and give up in my situation right now. But I’m not most people and my mind works differently,” published Murray.

“I won’t quit. I will keep fighting and working to produce the performances I know I’m capable of.”

Andy Roddick quickly jumped in to defend his fellow former world No. 1 and was not alone in doing so.

“Preach! Imagine telling an accomplished iconic adult your opinion on what they should choose for work and when they should do it …. This is such a dumb, thirsty article. Can’t take a legacy away. Accomplishment lives forever.”

Said Martina Navratilova, “Whenever Andy decides. Not one match sooner or later. And his legacy will be just fine, don’t you worry about it!”

Added James Blake, “Absurd for anyone to tell him what to do. He’s earned the right to do it however he sees fit.”

Murray is currently ranked No. 49 and holds a 733-253 record in tour-level matches. He went 16-17 in 2023, reaching the final in Doha.