PARIS -- Even at the very end, with his career brought to a close, Andy Murray didn't quite want to say goodbye. A few moments after the final point following a straight-sets doubles defeat at the Paris Olympics, Murray ambled somewhere between his bench and the umpire's chair before his playing partner, Dan Evans, grabbed his attention and nudged him toward the middle of the court.
"I told him when we were at the chair, 'get out there,' because you know what he's like," Evans said. "He wouldn't have done it. He doesn't want the applause."
It hadn't been a fairytale ending. Murray and Evans had been handily beaten 6-2, 6-4 by American players (Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul) much their junior, ending their remarkable journey at these Games. "It would've been amazing to have won a medal," Murray said. However, when he finally bid farewell to tennis, he did so on his own terms. "At times in the last few years, that wasn't a certainty," he adds.
This, without a doubt, has been the perfect time to say goodbye.
Murray revealed to reporters after the match that has been yearning for his playing career to be over for weeks now. More specifically, he was looking forward to the pain going away.
"The pain and discomfort in my body is not good," Murray said. "That's also why I'm happy to be finishing, because if I kept going and kept trying, eventually you end up having an injury that potentially ends your career."
The pain for Murray was always there. It was in his hip, for which he twice had surgery. It came from abdominal and shoulder injuries last year, and from a ruptured ankle ligament in March. In June, the pain came like a bolt from the blue as he walked up a small flight of stairs at the Queen's Club and lost feeling in his right leg, later revealing it was as a result of a spinal cyst.
"I wasn't able to walk properly, and my leg wasn't functioning properly," he said. "I was told if the cyst continues to grow and puts more pressure on the nerves, it turns into an emergency situation where you can't control your bladder and you'll lose control of the other leg. That's kind of when I knew it was time ... I was looking forward to the end after that."
And yet, in a contrasting sense, fans just wanted him to stay a little longer.
They got their wish in Paris. His back may still not be fully healed, but he was able to deliver moments that will be recognised as "classic Murray." His first-round match with Evans saw them go a set and a half down before conjuring a spirited fightback that ended in them taking it in a tiebreak before saving five match points in a match tiebreak. The next clash saw them save two more match points en route to another match tiebreak victory.
Their momentum was building.
"Wimbledon felt a little bit inevitable that I probably wasn't going to win the doubles there, but I still had a dream this week [at the Olympics] that we had a chance of doing that," Murray said.
Thursday's match came against a step up in opponent that an older Murray wasn't ready for. Most games followed a similar rhythm: Murray and Evans might hit a nice shot or gain a point from an unforced error, although it was few and far between. Sometimes they were unlucky -- there was a Paul forehand that struck the net and tipped over, an Evans forehand that didn't. It ended in the same result, with the scoreboard's momentum only really ticking in the favour of Paul and Fritz.
The British pair still managed to save a match point in the second set -- make that eight for the tournament -- and broke before holding serve. For a moment, memories of their previous matches began flooding back. "We sat down and said, 'This really would be madness,'" Evans said.
It wasn't meant to be. But Murray's legacy didn't need the medal.
Murray has become a true British sporting icon during his 19-year career, a rare athlete who can claim to have transformed a sport in their home country the way few can. He broke records -- first Brit to win a major in 76 years, the first Brit since Fred Perry to win Wimbledon, first person to defend an Olympic singles title -- and those memories will live on for generations.
There are simply too many to mention. He stared down Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, holding the world No. 1 spot for 46 weeks during the greatest era in tennis. He cried on Wimbledon's Centre Court in 2012 when he lost, and again weeks later at the Olympics when he won. He produced more two-set comebacks than anyone in history, and gritted through pain in a way that endeared him to the public.
"I've definitely felt that a lot the last few years in particular when I have been on the court, whether it's been in the UK or around the world, the support's been amazing," Murray said.
The final time came when Evans nudged him back onto court.
"I knew that moment was coming for the last few months, and if it didn't happen today, that was going to be in a couple of days time," he said. "I was ready for it."