Andy Murray cried “happy tears” after he delayed his retirement from tennis on Tuesday with another thrilling Olympic doubles win with Dan Evans where they saved match points for the second successive round.
Murray and Evans defeated Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran
Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 11-9 to qualify for the quarter-finals at Roland
Garros.
They saved two match points in the final-set tie-break, two
days after they had saved five match points in their opening-round victory.
In a rollercoaster clash on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the
British pair wasted two match points of their own in a gripping second-set
tie-break.
“It’s obviously unbelievably emotional and it was. You are
unbelievably happy,” said Murray, 37, who sank in his chair courtside and
buried his head in hands.
“And then for whatever reason, I don’t know what happened.
It was like happy tears, I don’t know why.”
He added: “Excited that we managed to get through another
amazing finish. It takes a lot out of you, that sort of stuff. So I’m glad we
get a day off tomorrow.”
Murray, a highly accomplished tennis player with three Grand
Slam titles, a world number one ranking, and two Olympic singles gold medals,
has announced his impending retirement following the conclusion of his Paris
campaign.
This year, he sustained a significant ankle injury and
underwent a surgical procedure to remove a cyst from his spine. Consequently,
he was unable to participate in singles matches for the final time at
Wimbledon.
Despite overcoming seven match points across two rounds,
Murray emphasized that this does not necessarily indicate the conclusion of his
career with a third gold medal.
“The margins are so fine,” said Murray. “We really need to
perform at a really high level in a couple of days.
“You build confidence by winning just like that today and
your opponents see that. You are coming back when you’re behind and that builds
belief.
“But you can’t have that mentality of like, oh, this is just
going to happen. You know, we need to be switched on for the next one.”
The British pair’s next opponents will be either the
third-seeded US team of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul or the Dutch team of Robin
Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer.
A victory in this match will secure their place in the
semi-finals.
Evans hailed Murray as “amazing”.
“I don’t think he wants to go home, does he?” said Evans. “I
don’t know how he retires like that.
“We’re getting close, really close to doing something pretty
special. We played great tonight.”