Andy Murray has suffered a lot of setbacks over course of his career and there are no doubt a lot of “what ifs”, but the three-time Grand Slam winner says a recent message from his wife has once again made him realise that his glass is half full.
When he was at the peak of his career, Murray was fighting the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for the biggest trophies in tennis.
That peak, though, didn’t last too long as his career has been blighted by injuries since 2017 and he was forced to undergo career-saving operation on his hip in 2019.
Although surgery means he is still able to play competitively, there are no doubt times where he feels that he missed out on some big moments, especially when you take into account that fellow 36-year-old Djokovic remains at the pinnacle of the sport.
While Djokovic won a 23 Grand Slam on Sunday when he defeated Casper Ruud in the French Open final, Murray was playing the Surbiton Trophy final – which is a second-tier ATP Challenger Tour event.
Instead of being downbeat, the Scot is just happy to still be competing and doing what he loves as he revealed a message from his wife after he won the Surbiton title put things into perspective.
“Obviously I would love to be competing for Grand Slams and to be in that position, I am also aware that what they have done is incredible and what he is doing at his age is brilliant,” he said.
“We have completely different journeys and what happened with my hip when I was in the peak of my career was really unfortunate.
“But I got a message from my wife when I was driving up here saying she had seen Novak on the news that he won in Paris and said she was so proud that I was still grinding it out in Challengers and still working as hard as I ever have done and that means a lot to me.
“You can’t always compare yourself to other people and to people who are more successful than you. I probably learned that more as I got older.
“When I was in my mid-20s I would always get asked, ‘When are you going to win things, all these guys around you are always winning’, and I always wanted what they had.
“Once I started to accept that I shouldn’t be comparing myself against other people and I should just focus on my own journey and working as hard as I can to achieve the goals I want to, that’s all you can do and that’s what I’m doing.
“Whether I win another Grand Slam or winning Challengers is the peak for me now, I am okay with that because I am doing what I love to do.
“I was happy for Novak on Sunday and what he has achieved is incredible. When I look back, the fact I was winning my Slams and Olympics against those players is brilliant and I’ll be very proud of that.”