Murray teases about his future plans: “I’ll do the best I can in these last few months”

Did Andy Murray just drop a big hint about how much longer he wants to play at the top level?

After a typically hard-fought win over Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the Dubai Open, Murray was asked about comments he made during his second-round loss in Doha last week, when he appeared to say on court: “this game’s not for me anymore”.

Guessing Murray’s inner thoughts has never been easy but perhaps he gave something away when he spoke on court after his 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over the Canadian.

“People read a lot into what I say on court sometimes, it’s not always rational, but everyone asks me about it all the time anyway,” Murray said in his court-side interview.

I obviously still love competing and still love the game but yeah it gets obviously harder and harder the older you get to compete with the young guys and keep your body fit and fresh. Yeah, not easy, I probably don’t have too long left, but I’ll do the best I can in these last few months.”

Murray probably the only one who knows his plans

Murray broke the longest losing streak of his career when he won his first-round match in Doha last week and his win over Shapovalov was highly impressive as he upped his intensity to get over the line.

The 36-year-old has consistently said he’s not interested in when anyone else thinks he should stop playing and with a metal hip, he continues to push the boundaries of what doctors thought was possible on the ATP Tour.

He’s due to play in both Indian Wells and Miami next month, but his clay-court plans are unclear at this stage. “A few months” might take him up to Wimbledon, where he won in 2013 and 2016, but we’ll only know for sure when Murray tells us. Maybe it’ll be longer. Only he, and perhaps his family, know.

The win was his 500th on hard courts – putting him alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal – and Murray gets another chance when he plays either Gael Monfils or Ugo Humbert in the next round.