When Sir Andy Murray was knocked out of the third round of Wimbledon in straight sets, he voiced doubts over whether it was really worth all the pain he has gone through to fight back from injury.
It was as downbeat as he has seemed in all the time since two hip surgeries threatened to end his career, but the double Olympic champion appears to have rediscovered his love for the sport.
He revealed that it was a chat with his daughter Sophia that allowed him to gain some perspective on that loss to world number ten Denis Shapovalov.
He said: “I was very disappointed after Wimbledon. It’s like with every major tournament that passes, or here at the Olympics, when I’m getting asked questions, a lot of it is about my future, and also when I’ve not performed as well as I would have liked to, you question things and doubt yourself a little bit.
“When I got home the day after my match, my daughter said to me: ‘Oh daddy, you’re home because you lost another tennis match.’
“I said ‘yes, but what do you do when you lose at something?’ and she said ‘you try and try again’. I was like ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do’.”
Immediately after Wimbledon, Murray’s biggest concern was that he had been unable to stay consistently on the court without injury affecting him, be it the troublesome hip, or groin and pelvic problems which have also affected him.
However, since Wimbledon he has remained injury-free, allowing him to arrive in Tokyo in close to the best condition he has been since the double surgery.
“There have been difficult moments in the last few months and the last year with the injury but right now, this is the healthiest I’ve been for the longest period in the last year," said Murray, who will facing Canada's rising star Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round of the men's singles.
“I’ve gotten to practise way more than I had been in the build-up to Wimbledon and everything so I’m getting better, I’m improving and hopefully that stays that way until the end here.”
Murray already stands alone as the only person with multiple singles gold medals at the Olympics after his successes in London and Rio.
And he explained that while in the tennis world, his two Wimbledon titles may carry more weight, on a global scale, his Olympic crowns, as well as being the flagbearer for Team GB in Rio, are up there with anything he has achieved.
When asked where his Olympic titles ranked, he replied: “For me, it’s been one of the highlights of my career, carrying the flag at the last Olympics was also incredibly special. To get the opportunity to do that and the Olympics has given me some of my best memories in my career.
“I guess within tennis circles, a Wimbledon title would be considered more important, but in the wider sporting context, people that maybe don’t follow tennis or know anything about it, pretty much everyone understands what a gold medal is, the Olympics is for me, certainly the biggest sporting event out there.
“They sit right there next to Wimbledon titles and I’m very proud of them.”