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Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray reiterated Wednesday that he is likely to retire from tennis before the season is over.
“I’m likely not going to play past this summer,” the 36-year-old Murray said after losing 6-2, 6-4 to fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert at the Dubai Championships.
After rallying past Denis Shapovalov in three sets on Monday for his 500th hard-court win, Murray hinted he was heading into the “last few months” of his career.
And he expanded a bit on those plans after losing to Humbert, although he stopped short of setting a firm timeline.
“I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I’m bored of the question, to be honest,” Murray said. “I’m not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But, yes, I don’t plan on playing much past this summer.”
Humbert didn’t face a break point before converting his first match point to reach the quarterfinals and secure his first career win over Murray, who lifted the trophy in Dubai in 2017.
In other results Wednesday, top-seeded Daniil Medvedev recovered from a set down to overcome Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
Medvedev opened his title defense Tuesday by beating Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 7-5 in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.
Medvedev will next face eighth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced after Jakub Mensik retired with an injury. Davidovich Fokina led 7-6 (7), 1-0 when Mensik stopped.
Jiri Lehecka saved five match points before rallying to beat fourth-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-4 and Sebastian Korda cruised past Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 6-0.
Lehecka next faces seventh-seeded Alexander Bublik, who progressed with a 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2) win over Tallon Griekspoor.
Korda will play second-seeded Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion. Rublev advanced to the quarterfinals for the fifth straight time after eliminating Arthur Cazaux 6-4, 6-4.
Third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz advanced with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Christopher O’Connell, and he gets Humbert next.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Murray appeared on BBC’s Radio 4 and said he wanted to play at the Olympic Games in Paris in August, having won the men’s singles title in 2012 and 2016 in London and Rio de Janeiro respectively
“Hopefully I can get the chance to compete at another one,” Murray said when asked whether he would be present at the Paris Olympics. He added that he would also like to play at Roland Garros for the first time since 2020.
In terms of a retirement announcement when the time comes, Murray is as of yet unclear on his plan.
“When the time is right I will probably say something before I play my last match and my last tournament,” he said. “Whether I say anything months ahead of the time I don’t know.
“There’s no right way of finishing your career and everyone is different so what might be the right way for [Roger] Federer might not be the right way for [Rafael] Nadal, might not be the right way for [Novak] Djokovic.”
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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