Wimbledon 2024: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic pay tribute as Andy Murray's farewell begins

Andy Murray turned emotional on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Thursday after the two-time champion was paid a heartwarming tribute after his loss in the men’s doubles match. Murray failed to take part in the men’s singles at Wimbledon as he could not recover in time after his surgery to remove a cyst on his spine last month. He subsequently entered men’s doubles and mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu.

On Thursday, Murray played in the men’s doubles opener with his brother Jamies as his partner but lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 against Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. It was the first time a men’s doubles first-round match was played in the event’s main stadium in nearly 30 years and it was just one of the ways used by the organisers to start saying goodbye to one of the biggest tennis stars.

After the mixed doubles, Murray will take part in the Paris Olympics before calling it quits.

After the first episode of a retirement three-parter, a video tribute replete with messages from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams was played at the court, while Murray was given a standing ovation from the fans.

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You made us dream.
You made us believe.
You made us cry.
And you made us proud. pic.twitter.com/yNsnkEsEhc

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2024

“The match itself, it was tough, physically. It was hard for me. … I was fortunate I was even able to get on the court to play,” said Murray.

“It was pretty emotional,” Murray said about the postmatch tribute. “Watching the video was nice, but hard as well, for me. Because you know it’s coming to the end of something that you absolutely loved doing for such a long time. So that was difficult.”

Murray occasionally fidgeted with his back and looked a tad uncomfortable while playing, but he also let out a celebratory scream after hitting a forehand return winner to go up a break at 2-0 in the second set, the type of shot that helped him reach No. 1 in the rankings.

Not a dry eye on Centre Court.

They love you, @andy_murray 💚 pic.twitter.com/dgas9hPEHx

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2024

This was the first time the Murray siblings had played together at the All England Club. They bumped fists before the match began; they slapped palms between points. Their mother, Judy, who taught both boys tennis, was in a guest box, sitting with Andy’s wife, Kim, and two of the couple’s four children.

“It was a fun experience for me to be out there and play with him,” Jamie said. “It was sort of strange knowing what the background was.”

Jamie’s younger brother became a superstar in these parts by winning Wimbledon in 2013, making him the first British man to triumph in singles at the All England Club in 77 years. He won the title again in 2016.

His other Grand Slam trophy came at the U.S. Open in 2012, the same year he won his first singles gold medal at the London Olympics at Centre Court — “One of my favorite days I’ve ever had, certainly as an athlete,” he said Thursday — and the next, at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, made him the only player with two in a row.

There were some of his usual mannerisms, whether it was tugging on the brim of his white hat or leaning over to pull on the tongues of his shoes or clenching a fist while looking up at the stands. There wasn’t as much of the fire and brimstone he was famous for, the cursing and muttering directed at his team or, just as frequently, himself.

“Sometimes,” Djokovic said during the four-minute video, “it looked like you against the world.”

Then it was Federer’s turn to say: “But you were never alone. Because while you you carried your own dreams, you also carried theirs,” referring to Murray’s many fans.

After the ceremony, Murray was greeted by several current and former players, including Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, Lleyton Hewitt, Holger Rune, Cam Norrie, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe.

And then Murray walked over to his brother, and they hugged.

With agency inputs