Retirement looks good on Jamie Murray.
After 20 years playing on tennis’ ATP Tour – a glory-laden spell that yielded seven grand slam titles and a spell as world No.1 – the Scot packed his racket away for the final time, in a competitive sense, in April.
Reclining in a large Chesterfield sofa in the lobby of the Turnberry hotel in Ayrshire, the 40-year-old has the easy demeanour of a man without a care in the world.
Not that he has too much time to lounge around.
At the upcoming Wimbledon championships, Murray will swap the court for the commentary booth as he joins the BBC coverage of the sport’s biggest event. And when he’s not doing that, he’ll be working on his golf game, just like younger brother Andy has done since he, too, called time on his own tennis career in the summer of 2024.
It’s going to be an adjustment, for sure, but Murray is ready for it.
“I’m totally at peace with retiring,” he tells bunkered.co.uk. “I’m excited for what’s to come next. I don’t know what necessarily that’s going to be but, yeah, looking forward to getting stuck into new things, new challenges and playing a bit more golf.”
One of the consequences of retirement is the opportunity it provides for reflection. It is arguably only now that Murray can fully appreciate how extraordinary a career he had.
“With tennis, you’re always on to the next thing,” he says. “There’s always something to prepare for, whether that’s the next match, the next tournament, the next whatever. There’s flights to books or hotels to organise. So you never really have time to take stock of what you’ve done or achieved.
“I got a lot of nice messages when I announced I was retiring, a lot of nice mentions on social media and things like that and, yeah, as I look back, I can see I had a really good career. I was able to play for 20 years at the highest level, which I feel really grateful for. I saw the tour go from strength to strength during that time, and yeah, I had many amazing moments on the court. I don’t have any regrets.”
His TV gig at SW19 signals the start of an exciting new chapter for Murray and a world of possibilities and opportunities.
“I kind of want to say yes to everything and see what I like and what I don’t,” he adds. “Then, next year, I’ll be in a better position to get involved in the things I want to do, or have a bit more awareness, let’s say, of the routes I want to go down.
“I don’t really want to be travelling around the tour too much. A lot of the commentary stuff is done from the UK but with the Grand Slams, everything’s on-site, which is fun, too. I went to Australia and I did commentary and TV there, and it’s great to see the event from a different perspective.
“There’s zero stress, obviously, compared to playing, which is nice. I can honestly say I’m not missing playing. When I was in Australia, for example, I didn’t feel a huge desire to be playing, so that tells me I made the right decision.”
With more time on his hands, Murray expects to spend a considerable amount of it playing golf.
A talented player in his younger days, he speaks with tangible fondness of long summer evenings after school when he and Andy were boys. After finishing their classes, they would go and play tennis before grabbing some dinner and then heading out to play golf until it got dark. Their grandparents’ house, as it happens, was located adjacent to the second tee at Dunblane New.
Tennis, of course, took priority later in their teens, giving them the platform for the phenomenal careers they have had. But just as Andy has swapped the court for the course in retirement, Jamie has the same intention.
“It’s an amazing sport,” he says. “I love it. It’s just so good to get out there, put your phone away, switch off and focus only on where your ball’s going. I really like that aspect of it.
“For the last ten years of my tennis career, I didn’t play too much but I definitely want to get better, I’ve started going for lessons with a Scottish guy, Hugh Marr, at Reigate Hill in Surrey, which has been great, so I’m quite excited about where my golf might end up.
“The way I see it, if I’m ever going to get really good, or be the best that I can be, now is my time to do it. If I wait another ten years, I’m going to be 50 and it’s not going to happen. So, yeah, I’m trying to play more, trying to get better, and I’m excited to by that challenge, and if I can catch up with Andy…”
His eyes noticeably twinkle at that prospect, leaving on to wonder if sibling rivalry, in fact, is foundational to this new obsession.
“A little bit,” he concedes. “He’s playing so good. He’s basically scratch now, whereas my golf has been so bad for so long, it’s almost depressing playing with him.
“It’s obviously great to see him doing so well with it but he’s comfortably better than me. That said, I have started playing a lot better since I’ve started getting these lessons with Hugh, so I’m excited to see my progression over the next few months. I’ve definitely got the bug.
“I know everyone says this but the beauty of golf is that you can go out hit 90 really terrible shots, but then there are two that fly off into the big blue sky and that’s what keeps you coming back because you’re like, ‘If I can do that once, why can’t I do it again?’ That’s how you get hooked on the game. It’s highly, highly addictive.”
