Andy Murray admits he may only have two years left at the top as he enters the twilight of his career
The 30-year-old who recently finished as a semi-finalist in the French Open, is targeting Fred Perry's record of three Wimbledon crowns
ANDY MURRAY admits he may have only two more years left in him.
The world No.1 has given his clearest indication yet he is preparing for retirement - fearing he simply cannot maintain a gruelling workload.
Murray, 30, struggled for form and fitness in the early part of the year before appearing back to his best by reaching the French Open semi-finals.
And with Wimbledon on the horizon, the Scot revealed he may only have two more realistic cracks at matching Fred Perry’s record of three triumphs at SW19.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest tennis news, gossip and rumours
Murray said: “My coach Ivan Lendl was still competitive at the top until he was about 32 but, generally, over the past 20 to 30 years, normally by early 30s players struggle to stay at the top.
“I know some of the players have been doing really well until their mid-30s recently - but that might not be the case with me.
“Maybe the next couple of years are the last few where I have a chance to compete for the majors and the biggest tournaments.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing for any more. I want to make the most of every tournament I compete in.
“If I’m going to be away from my family, I’m not going to do that and not do my best, be totally professional and take every tournament as seriously as I can.
MOST READ IN SPORT
“I’ll continue to play and so long as my body is fine. I would like to hope that I would continue to do that whilst I’m still enjoying it.
“I enjoy being away from the court. I have a family now - I have more interests away from the court than I did in my early 20s or mid 20s - so obviously it will be sad to stop. But I think I’ll be all right.”
If Murray is to add to his three Grand Slam triumphs he knows he needs Lendl by his side.
The Czech guru was absent for four months during the Brit’s struggles and the absence was felt.
Murray said: “I was in a pretty bad place before the French Open.
“You had to be there to see how bad I was playing, how bad the practices were and how bad I was feeling.
“I was not playing well, I was not happy and I was struggling.
“When Ivan got there, he was like, ‘Wow, it really is not good’.
“Having his presence around helped, for sure.
“He has been through periods like that in his career, so it helps to have someone to talk to who has been through it and also knows how to get out of the other end of it.
“Maybe I am a little bit more on my toes when he is around, which is a good thing.
“If you are too relaxed or content with how things are going you might miss small details or in practice every shot does not have the same meaning.
“That is one of the things I definitely take care of that a bit better when he is there.”
Murray believes his issues were as much psychological as physical and that it just required the Lendl key to unlock his form.
He added: “You do not become a bad player overnight. It is always going to come back.
“But it is just a question of when, how long it takes and what you are willing to do to get back to where you were.
“A lot of the stuff we were doing in practice was really basic stuff. None of the drills are complicated at all.
“It is just hitting lots and lots of balls and repeating the same shots over and over again.
“So it is boring and can be tedious but I needed to do it because I was all over the place. We made everything a lot more simple.
“But I made myself difficult to beat early on in Paris and then, with each match I played, I started to feel better and my confidence grew.
“When things are not going well it is so easy to overthink everything, how you are hitting the ball, your strokes, the gameplay, everything.
“With each match I won everything just became a lot clearer and a lot more simple.”