Sir Andy Murray: 'It was hard feeling I was not good enough'

Sir Andy Murray has spoken out about having to deal with the high levels of expectation placed on him when he was on court.

The 37-year-old Scot, who retired at the Paris Olympics last month, said it was not just at the end of his career when he found media criticism difficult.

Sir Andy, a three-time Grand Slam champion, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he often felt he was “failing”, despite being “extremely successful”.

Sir Andy Murray cries and waves to the spectators after he and his partner Daniel Evans were defeated by Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States in the men's doubles quarter finals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) | AP

He said: "It was really hard for me at times, reaching the final at Wimbledon and being criticised for your work or feeling you are not good enough.

"Which I think is wrong and I don't know if that would be the case in every country.

"It might have not been the case, but my perception was I was feeling I was being attacked even when I was doing really well, and that was pretty hard."

The star said he is focusing more on golf now that he was retired, but that he will continue to “love tennis”.

His well-documented back and hip problems largely kept him off the golf course towards the end of his tennis career.

Sir Andy said: "I want to get to scratch, whether that is possible or not I don't know. I've got a lot of time on my hands to practise."

He had a hip resurfacing operation in 2019 and was beset with injuries stuggles in the latter years of his career.

"Since I've stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want," he said.

"I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms.

"It is really nice and I didn't expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour.

"So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking."

Sir Andy Murray lifts the US Open championship trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final of the 2012 US Open in New York. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images | Getty Images

Retirement has led to him feeling guilt-free around his four children and wife Kim, although he cadmitted there was no “perfect ending” for a tennis player.

"The thing that I always found difficult in recent years was that there was always a guilt associated with what I was doing," Sir Andy said.

"If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard.

"But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training.

"I was then thinking 'is this going to affect my training or performance the next day, should I have my feet up?' I found that stuff difficult over the last few years."