Andy Murray brought to tears as Wimbledon legend given emotional send off | Tennis | Sport

“We have worked extremely hard just to be on the court competing,” he said. “Not at the level any of us wanted. But we tried.”

And then about his wife Kim. “We met for the first time when we were 18 years old,” he said. “I walked her back to her hotel and asked her for her email address. The first match she came to watch live and I vomited twice in that match – once right in front of her and and then in my opponent’s racquet bag.

“She still seemed to like me so I knew she was a keeper. Unfortunately in a couple of months, she is going to have to see me every day. It might be rocky for a while but hopefully we can stick it out and look forward to the rest of our lives together.”

Murray opted to say farewell last night with his brother Jamie – instead of after a mixed doubles match with Emma Raducanu – but the timing was not really his choosing. Even at the age of 37, he had still wanted to keep playing but his body would not let him.

“It is hard because I would love to play but I can’t,” he admitted. “At the end of the ceremony, he took one last ovation and walked through the doors into the stand where the camera caught him weeping.”