Andy Murray’s French Open career ended Sunday when he went down to a straight sets first round defeat to 2015 champion and fellow three-time Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka who hailed the Briton as “a great champion”.
Murray, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2016, lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in his last appearance at the tournament before retiring later this year.
Wawrinka becomes only the third man over the age of 39 to win a match at the French Open since 1980.
Murray, 37, had already announced he plans to retire later in the summer with Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics as the two high-profile events left on his schedule.
On Sunday, he left to a standing ovation from the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier and Murray returned the gesture by applauding the fans.
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Wawrinka, who has now defeated Murray three times in four meetings in Paris, described his opponent as a “great champion”.
The Swiss veteran goes on to face either Cameron Norrie of Britain or Russia’s Pavel Kotov for a place in the third round.
“My first words are for a great champion,” Wawrinka told Eurosport courtside after the pair’s 23rd career meeting.
“I have loved watching Andy play, loved fighting against him. We’ve had a lot of fights over the last 15 years. We are not very young so we did all we could and remember all these moments.”
He added: “I love to work in front of a crowd like this. I’ve shared a lot of emotion with this crowd and they gave me a lot of energy to fight.
“In my head I’m still a young guy, still a kid.”
