Final rally looms for arguably our greatest sportsman

FOR a time Andy Murray tried to deny the reality of it all, but finally the admission came that the long goodbye from tennis has begun.

Speaking after his latest defeat in Dubai this week, he confessed he didn't see himself playing much past the summer.

Will Wimbledon, where he is a two-time winner, mark the end? Or will it be the Olympics, again where he has twice won gold? At 67th in the world and the British No 4, qualification for the latter is far from guaranteed.

Whenever it comes, we should enjoy him while we can. At 36, he's a sportsman who could lay claim to being Britain's greatest. He is certainly immersed in that conversation. That he is still able to match some of the best players in the world while doing so with a metal hip is nothing short of awe inspiring.

But to watch him toil on court in recent months has been painful, seeing the inner struggling playing out.

For a time, it looked like he might be the nearly man on the biggest stage, beaten as he was in four grand slam finals before finally breaking that duck at the 2012 US Open having won Olympic gold at Wimbledon just a month previously. It opened the floodgates to even greater glories, becoming the first British male to win the Wimbledon singles title since Fred Perry 77 years earlier.