Andy Murray's glittering career comes to an end: Tearful two-time Wimbledon champion bows out of Olympics after doubles defeat alongside Dan Evans in what is Scot's final ever tennis match

In the history of British sport, never did there beat a greater heart or burn a more defiant spirit than Andy Murray’s.

So when his tennis career came to an end on a court of red clay in a half-empty stadium at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, a light went out.

Murray’s last match bore the same weight as Bobby Charlton’s last game, Lennox Lewis’s last fight, Jackie Stewart’s last race, Ian Botham’s last innings and Nick Faldo’s last round.

He was a game-changer, a man who revolutionised the image of British tennis, who played in the greatest era of all in the men’s game and won three Grand Slams and 46 singles titles.

He became the first British man for 77 years to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 2013. He won the US Open. He led Great Britain to its first Davis Cup victory for 79 years in 2015. He was a wonderful ambassador for the game. No wonder Clare Balding was in tears in the BBC studio. And so, as the end approached on Court Suzanne-Lenglen just after 9.30pm, it was almost as hard for us to say goodbye to him as it was for Murray to take his leave of the game he has graced for two decades and to which he has dedicated his life.

The last match of Andy Murray's glittering tennis career ended in defeat in Paris on Thursday

Murray and Team GB partner Dan Evans lost in the quarter-finals of the Olympic men's doubles

Taylor Fritz (right) and Tommy Paul (left) will now take on an Australian duo in the semi-finals

After the heroics of the first two rounds of the men’s doubles at these Olympic Games, this quarter-final against American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul was a challenge too far.

This was the night when the miracles ran out, this was the night when there was to be no comeback, this was the night when Murray knew he would never hear the crowd cheering for him and screaming his name again.

This was the night when Time ushered him as firmly as it dare into retirement. This was the night when Murray finally looked like a 37-year-old man who had a back operation just over a month ago and who runs on a metal hip. Any normal competitor would have quit years ago.

Fritz and Paul were just too good and too strong and too young. They won 6-2, 6-4 in 77 minutes and when it was over, they joined the crowd in clapping and cheering Murray into retirement.

As his emotions began to overwhelm him, Murray stumbled to the centre of the court in a daze and waved to the fans and saluted them and looked to the heavens and signed one last clutch of autographs and tennis balls and held his head in his hands and wept.

It is hard to overstate his significance in the history of British sport. Men’s tennis in this country was regarded as a joke until he came along, sanctuary for under-achieving rich kids lacking the hunger to take the final step, a sport that felt like it operated a class bar.

Murray changed that. He was the opposite of all that. He wasn’t from Surrey or Oxfordshire. He was a kid from Dunblane, in Perthshire, who had survived the horrors of the school shooting there and had lived through the pain of his parents’ divorce.

He had seen the promising singles career of his older brother, Jamie, destroyed by the LTA, and had gone to study at a tennis academy in Barcelona. He was about as anti-establishment as it could get. It always felt as though he used physical pain as a salve for mental pain. There was no end to his hunger.

An emotional Murray pictured waving as he left court following the final match of his career

Tears were shed by both Murray and Evans as they shared a post-match hug at Roland Garros

Murray also received a hug from Taylor Fritz, who is currently 12th in the ATP singles rankings

He changed what we thought was possible and not just by playing and winning with a metal hip late in his career.

Those of us who grew up haunting our local tennis clubs in the 70s and 80s never thought we would see a British man win the men’s singles at Wimbledon. We never thought we would see Britain win the Davis Cup again. Murray changed all that.

He stood for things that we adore in our sportsmen in Britain. He stood for resilience, and stubbornness. He stood for an absolute bloody-minded refusal to give in. He stood for a relish for beating the odds, even when the odds have been stacked high against him.

He never knew he was beaten. Never. He retained that quality right until the end. In their first-round match here, he and Evans saved five straight match points against Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori on their way to a remarkable victory.

In their second-round victory over Belgian duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, they saved two more match points in another epic escape.

Murray stood for brilliance, too. Let’s not patronise him by just saying he had true grit. Yes, he had grit but he had one of the best double-handed backhands in the game, his running passing shots were things of beauty and his defence was the best in the sport.

He was a world No 1 for 41 weeks in the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Just think about that for a moment. He was up against the three greatest male tennis players of all time, and he stood his round at the bar with all of them.

He pulverised Federer in the men’s singles final at the London Olympics in 2012, he beat Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Wimbledon in 2013 and he outlasted Djokovic in the longest men’s final in US Open history to win his first Slam at Flushing Meadows in 2012.

UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer reacted to Murray's retirement by praising him via X

John Swinney tweeted: 'Scotland could not be more proud of you and all you have given us'

Murray won three Grand Slam singles titles during his career, including Wimbledon twice

He is the only man to have won two Olympic singles gold medals so perhaps it was fitting that his career should finally come to a close here during the Games of the 33rd Olympiad in one last beautiful struggle against all odds.

The Union Jack-waving fans dotted around the arena hoped that the first point was a sign of things to come. Evans nailed his first serve, Paul could only float his return towards Murray at the net and Murray angled away a nonchalant volley for the winner.

But that optimism did not last long. The Americans raced into a 4-0 lead and even though Murray won his next service game to love, Fritz and Paul won the following game to close out the set 6-2 in just half an hour.

Murray and Evans kept fighting and kept encouraging each other but the Americans were on a different level to either of the previous pairs the Britons have faced. Murray was broken to love in his last service game in tennis. His last serve was a double fault.

Despite losing 6-2 6-4, Murray and Evans still produced some moments of magic on Thursday

But there were also moments of disappointment as Murray appeared frustrated at times

Murray waved goodbye to tennis at Roland Garros with the five Olympic rings behind him

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That did not mean it was the end of his defiance. Murray saved the first match point against him and Evans with a smash at the end of a fine rally and then moved to break point with a quite brilliant exchange led by superb defence from Evans. At the end of it, Murray windmilled his arms to stir up the crowd.

Murray fought and fought and fought in that game. Four times, the British pair had points to break serve and on the fourth, Murray hoisted a lob that Fritz volleyed wide. The crowd roared in delight.

Evans held his serve to bring the score back to 5-4 but Murray hit a backhand long to give the Americans match point and Evans could not keep his return in. They had fought right until the bitter end.

‘Never die easy,’ the legendary NFL running back Walter Payton said. ‘Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It’s OK to lose, to die, but don’t die without trying, without giving it your best.’

Andy Murray lived by that creed throughout his whole tennis career. He was made in Scotland, from girders.

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