Andy Murray was riveted watching last week's epic Roland Garros semifinal when Novak Djokovic dethroned 13-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal.
While the former world No. 1 realizes he may never regain the level exhibited by his former rivals, winning championships isn't the reason the two-time Olympic gold-medal champion continues his competitive career.
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Murray, who faces Benoit Paire in his Queen's Club opener today, said the main reason he still competes is simple: love.
"The reason why I'm still playing is because I love playing tennis," Murray said. "I spoke to a number of my ex-coaches who were players and played at high level. I asked them about like when they finished playing or what it was like at the end of their careers and stuff.
"Unanimously they were all, like, look, it was extremely difficult to stop playing, and our advice would be to play as long as you can, so long as you are still enjoying it, you know, and providing your body can still do it. Which maybe there is question marks over mine in that respect. But, yeah, they were like, nothing replaces it. It's difficult to replace, you know, being out there and competing on a tennis court and playing sport at the highest level."
"Yeah, I want to keep playing as long as I can," Murray said. "I know that I can still compete with the best players in the world. I have been doing it consistently in practice, you know, over these last sort of six months, seven months, and certainly on the grass I don't see why not."
Photo credit: Delray Beach Open