Andy Murray QUIT bombshell: Retirement fears as tennis star admits he may stop playing

Andy Murray admitted he will consider quitting for good if he does not improve in Grand Slams after a shock defeat at the Australian Open. The former world No.1 suffered his worst ever Major loss in terms of ranking as he went down 6-4 6-4 6-4 to world No.120 Taro Daniel.

And the Scot, who turns 35 in May, has now won only four matches in five Grand Slams since his hip resurfacing operation after his last appearance here in 2019. Then he broke down in tears in his pre-tournament press conference as he feared his career was over because of chronic hip pain.

Three years and a new hip later, the five-time finalist was asked if he will return to Melbourne Park in 2022. “Yeah, I mean, yeah,” he said. “But not if I do what I did tonight too often this season.

This is a really important year for me for a number of reasons, and I want to perform well in the big events. For me, tonight is not good enough in that respect. Making the second round of Slams is not something I find particularly motivating. I want to be doing better than that. I’m really, really disappointed. Very frustrated. Tough loss for me. That’s for sure.

“I’m not sure I’ve lost a match to someone ranked outside 100 before in a slam. So from that respect it’s not a great loss for me.”

The lowest-ranked player to have beaten Murray in a Grand Slam before Daniel was world No.91 Arnaud Clement in the second round of the 2005 US Open.

The Scot claimed he felt “all right physically” but that makes yesterday’s sluggish performance even worse. It was a real anti-climax after reaching the final in Sydney last week and this opening win over No.21 seed Basilashvili. Then Murray felt he finally had the chance to go on a “deep run” into the tournament.

Instead he had his serve broken five times by a qualifier and took only two of his 11 break points. The Japanese journeyman attacked the Scot’s second serve and fired over 46 winners in his inspired performance.

Murray hurled his racquet into the net in frustration – and was given a warning for racquet by French umpire Aurelie Tourte – when he was broken for a final time at 4-4.

And Daniel took his first match point after two hours and 48 minutes with his first serve-and-volley of the match

Before his planned return to action in Doha and Dubai next month, he has some soul-searching to do, including whether to appoint German coach Jan De Witt on a permanent basis.

First he will return to wife Kim and their four children. “I get to go home now and spend some time with them,” he said.

“My family has been a bit sick the last week. Obviously when that’s the case, you also want to be there to help and feel like you’re contributing.”