Andy Murray’s French Open career may have ended in a whimper after losing in straight sets to Stan Wawrinka in the first round.
The British tennis star has indicated that he’ll retire from professional tennis this summer as he embarks on a possible farewell tour.
After edging closer to becoming a seeded player once again last year, Murray has dropped further down the rankings with a run of disappointing results.
He only played in two events prior to the French Open after rupturing his ankle ligaments in March.
Andy Murray lost in straight sets to Stan Wawrinka
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And he was handed a tricky first-round match against his old rival Wawrinka, who has similarly endured a disappointing 2024.
It was the 23rd meeting between the two with their first coming 19 years ago.
The match was far from vintage as both players were guilty of making multiple unforced errors with long rallies a rarity.
Wawrinka just had enough to take the opening set though, putting Murray immediately on the backfoot.
Murray’s first serve evaded him in the second set and once again struggled to create break-point opportunities on Wawrinka’s service games.
The 39-year-old was beginning to find his groove and forcing Murray into errors that he couldn’t recover from with the former world No 1 soon finding himself two sets down.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was seemingly looking for something to get him going in the third and inspire one of his famous comebacks.
But Wawrinka broke Murray’s serve and spirit at the start of the third and comfortably saw out the match.
Andy Murray struggled to get anything going against Stan Wawrinka
REUTERS
The two shared a warm embrace at the net with the crowd inside Philippe-Chatrier on their feet to applaud Murray off the court.
The 37-year-old gave a long wave as he left the tournament with questions on whether he will be back at the French Open next year.
For Wawrinka, he moves into the second round where he could face British No 1 Cam Norrie.
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Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray shared a warm embrace at the net
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The 28-year-old takes on Pavel Kotov and he’ll be aiming for a career-best run at Roland Garros.
Norrie has been knocked out of the French Open in the third round for three consecutive years.
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