PARIS -- Andy Murray won't go away.
He has achieved a string of titles in his career, from three Grand Slams to two Olympic championships. He has been world No. 1 and stood toe-to-toe with some of the game's greats. But perhaps the enduring image he will leave on tennis is his simple refusal to quit.
Murray and his playing partner, Dan Evans, fought hard at Roland Garros on Tuesday to earn another match tiebreak victory in the Olympics men's doubles tournament. This time, they saved two match points, which brings their total to seven over their past two matches.
It leaves them one victory away from guaranteeing a chance at a medal. "We're really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight, and people see that," Evans said.
"I don't think he wants to go home, does he?" he added.
Maybe that's the lesson here.
The truth is that many people tuned into Murray's matches this week half-expecting him to lose. There's no shame in that: He has suffered a string of injuries in recent months, and a spinal cyst procedure has already ended his singles career. Neither he nor Evans are in their best shape, and their match sharpness has clearly been lacking at times.
But they have found a way to get it done. The doubles scoring system can be cruel. If they don't win both opening sets, then players must stare down a 10-point match tiebreak to decide who will be the winner. It's like having a penalty shootout at half-time of a football match. If singles matches are an opportunity to outclass your opponent, then doubles are a chance to show your bravery.
"Doubles matches and the way the scoring system is and the way the teams play now, the margins are so fine that anything can happen," Murray said.
That brutal scoring system has been their savior and their enemy. In their first-round match, Murray and Evans endured a torrid first set that saw them lose four straight games, before clawing back the second set through a tiebreak. The same situation happened on Tuesday, only with mirrored roles.
It was the Brits who took control early on, breaking Belgium's Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen at their first opportunity through a superb Evans lob to the far right corner. They looked assured in the remainder of the set, but they were hard-pressed in the second, this time ending in a tiebreak victory for the Belgians.
In the midst of another match tiebreak, Evans and Murray looked to be experiencing an unfortunate case of déjà vu. At one point the scoreboard read 8-6 Belgium.
"I thought to myself, if this goes 9-6, it can't happen again," Evans said.
Thankfully for the Brits, they won the next point before saving two match points thereafter, causing the pair to leap and bound across the court.
After the match, Murray was asked if it made him think something special was in the air. Maybe it's meant to be?
"I don't think so," he said. "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 and you build confidence by winning matches like that. I think your opponents see that you're coming back when you're behind and that builds belief.
"But you can't have that mentality, 'This is just going to happen now.' We need to be switched on for the next one."
They will likely face third-seeded Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States in the next round.
That would shape up to be a tall order for Murray and Evans, though Fritz is juggling the singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles, with all three matches scheduled for Wednesday.
Again, you doubt whether Murray and Evans can find a way again. But maybe that's where the lesson is.
In the early part of his career, Murray assumed a tag as the British nearly man. He lost the first four Grand Slams he played, before finally winning the US Open in 2012 a month after lifting the London 2012 men's singles title. Further wins at Wimbledon (2013 and 2016), as well as Rio 2016 saw Murray gain respect as a British sporting icon.
More recently, though, things have been different. Since his comeback from a brief retirement in 2019 following two hip surgeries, Murray has been defined by losing. Or rather, his ability to defy it.
And so it is time to doubt him again. It would be fair to assume his career will end on Thursday at the hands of Paul and Fritz.
Or maybe Murray will refuse to quit. Not just yet.
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