Could it be Andy Murray next after Rafael Nadal? The tennis courts are indeed transitioning, with new faces taking center stage. Nadal has bid adieu to the clay courts of Roland Garros, marking the end of his singles and doubles campaigns at the Paris Olympics. The tennis community is still reeling from this farewell, but there’s another potential heartbreak on the horizon. Tommy Paul, the rising American star, has recently expressed a desire that could send shockwaves through the tennis world. 

Paul and Taylor Fritz will be facing the giant British force, Andy Murray and Dan Evans in the quarterfinals of the Summer Olympics. While both Americans have suffered losses in the third round of their singles venture, they are not ready to bow down in the doubles. And ahead of their quarterfinal clash, the American third seeds have really laid down the gauntlet.

After his match against Carlos Alcaraz where he witnessed a defeat, Paul expressed his desire to end Murray’s run. “Should be a fun match. I think it’s Andy’s last event. Hopefully, we can retire him, that would be pretty cool,” he said speaking to Peacock. Remember, Andy Murray is playing the final tournament of his career at the Summer Olympics. 

In a recent post on Instagram, Murray shared a picture of himself, proudly boasting the Olympic gold hanging around his neck. He confirmed his retirement through the same post and wrote, “Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics. Competing for 🇬🇧 have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get do it one final time,” the caption said! However, Paul is not undermining his worthy opponent. “But they’ve been saving match points left and right. We’ve got to take care of the first match point because if they get that one…” 

Murray and Evans have played some enthralling break points. In both the matches they played in doubles, the duo managed to win in the tiebreaker round after leveling the match. They saved five match points in their opening-round clash against Japan to defeat Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel.

Remarkably, they continued the sensational streak and saved two match points again on their way to beating Belgium. Besides his vast experience, the 37-year-old is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won in 2012 and 2016. But if the pair manages to win big at the Olympics, a big credit will be given to Evans who risked his ranking for compatriot Murray.

Evans’ sensational sacrifice for Murray is heartwrenching

Dan Evans was once placed 21st in the ranking table and had demonstrated to the tennis community the exceptional skills he possessed. But continuous injuries led him to withdraw from matches resulting him in being placed 59 ahead of the Olympics. While the Brit could have skipped the tournament to work on his ranking, he decided to take a risk.  

Participating in the Olympics cost Evans all the 500 points he earned last year in Washington. This would make him lose a whooping 110 ranks and will place him somewhere near the 170th spot. And while he could have decided to withdraw to recover properly, he chose otherwise to give a boost to Murray in his last-ever Olympics. Interestingly, he has no regrets at all!

Speaking after his first-round win with Murray, Evans said, “We’re getting close, really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight. People see how good we’ve been in tight moments and we’re getting better and better.”

As the tournament unfolds, it would be interesting to see if the duo can actually win big and surpass the challenge from Paul and Fritz in the quarterfinals.