Andy Murray reflected on his emotions after reaching the quarter-final of the men’s doubles at the Olympics.
Along with Dan Evans, they pulled off another miracle and saved match points for the second match in a row to beat Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3 6-7(8) [11-9].
After the match, he sat on their bench with his head in his hands and cried. The former No. 1 later explained his tearful reaction as he shed light on his hopes of getting one more Olympic medal before retiring.
I mean yeah, obviously it’s unbelievably emotional,” Murray said after another escape act allowed him to extent his professional tennis career. “You’re obviously unbelievably happy and then for whatever reason, I don’t know why it happens, it’s like happy tears.
Laughing at his own reaction, the two-time gold medallist added: “I don’t know why that’s the case but yeah I was really emotional at the end of the match. Obviously extremely happy, excited that we managed to get through and another amazing finish so takes a lot out of you that sort of stuff so I’m glad we get a day off tomorrow.”
Murray and Evans are now through to the quarter-final where they will face either Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer of The Netherlands, or American friends Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. If they reach the semi-final, they are guaranteed a shot at playing for a medal. Even a semi-final loss allows players to compete in the bronze playoff.
But Murray has already experienced heartbreak in the men’s doubles quarter-finals of the Olympics, losing in the same stage with Joe Salisbury three years ago. While that outing is still on his mind, he believes there’s a real chance that he and Evans can go at least one step further. The three-time Grand Slam champion continued: “Well the next match is an important one. If we can find a way to get through that one then you get a couple of chances at it.
“But I lost with Joe in the quarters in Tokyo after being a set and a break up and that was really disappointing and we were playing extremely well too. So doubles matches and the way the scoring system is and the way the teams play now, the margins are just, it is so fine that anything can happen really. But we’ve definitely got a chance of getting through to the semis.”
Murray and Evans are making quite the habit of staying alive by the skin of their teeth. They saved five consecutive match points against Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel on Sunday before their efforts on Tuesday night. While the Scot knows that it boosts their confidence, he doesn’t think it’s becoming fate.
“I mean we were very lucky in the first match and today we weren’t. The margins are so fine, we need to perform at a really high level in a couple of days’ time to go through,” he explained.
“And you build confidence by winning matches like that and I think your opponents see that, that you’re coming back when you’re behind and that builds belief. But you can’t have that mentality of, ‘oh this is just going to happen now.’ We need to be switched on for the next one and let’s see what happens in a couple of days.”
While they’ve saved match points across their first two rounds, Murray and Evans agreed that they showed a much higher level in their win over the Belgian pairing. The former world No. 1 said: “The first match was obviously quite different to today. We really didn’t play well in the first round, we were very lucky.
And then today was kind of the opposite. You know, if I was standing here having lost that match I think me and Dan would’ve been really disappointed because we played well, much better than the first match. I served way better than I did on the first day. And yeah, we deserved to win today and obviously great to save a couple more match points but probably shouldn’t have gotten to that stage.
The Brits also blew two match points in the second set tiebreak before getting it done in the all-important decisive breaker. “What happened again was incredible. We’re getting really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight,” Evans smiled.
“People see that, see how good we’ve been in tight moments, and we’re getting better and better. We played good tennis today, it wasn’t like that last match where we were a bit off and played good in parts. I thought we were unlucky not to win 7-6 in the second set, how that volley went in I still don’t know. I don’t think he wants to go home, does he?”
