Murray drops retirement hint

DUBAI: Andy Murray hinted that this could be his last season after he recorded his 500th hardcourt win with a 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3 victory over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday.

Murray joined Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi and Rafa Nadal as the only players to reach the 500th tour-level win milestone on the surface in the professional era. “Obviously hardcourt has been a great surface for me over the years and 500 is a lot ofmatches so I’m very proud of that,” Murray said.

“There aren’t many players that have done that, so, great to get to 500 before I’m done.” It was just the second win this year for the 36-year-old who suffered a first round exit at the recent Australian Open, and Murray has failed to go beyond the third round of a Grand Slam since reaching the Wimbledon quarters in 2017.