One of Andy Murray's young children has given him a "tough" reality check following the Scot's incredible efforts at the Australian Open.
The three-time Grand Slam champion exited in the third round at Melbourne, but that stat doesn't even begin to tell the story of his marathon showings Down Under. In his first round match, Murray rolled back the years by going for more than five hours to beat 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in five sets.
But that was nothing compared to his second round win, which signified the longest match of the 35-year-old's distinguished career. Trailing by two sets to home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis, Murray launched an amazing comeback, with the clock running past 4am before he eventually prevailed in five hours 45 minutes.
His resistance was finally ended by Roberto Bautista Agut, but a proud Murray was able to jokingly mock the doctor who wrote off his career amid his career saving hip surgery in 2019. However, although mum Judy was out to support him in Australia, being reunited with the rest of his family after returning to the UK hasn't proved quite so joyous.
On Wednesday, he tweeted: "School drop off this morning. My 6 year old 'daddy don’t give me a kiss and a cuddle anymore when you drop me…just stay in the car'. (crying emoji) Tough game. Back to reality!"
High-profile father figures appeared to associate with Murray's plight, with Piers Morgan tweeting three laughing emojis with the caption: "Firm handshake time." Snooker world champion Neil Robertson replied: "The worst part is when they just call you DAD."
Former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand also responded with three laughing emojis summing up exactly what he thought.
Murray shares three daughters and a son with wife Kim. The couple welcomed Sophia in 2016, Edie in 2018, their son Teddy in 2019, and another girl in June 2022 whose name has not been revealed.
At what point the school run becomes a daily chore for Murray is not yet clear, with his latest renaissance seemingly delaying any prospect of an immediate retirement. His efforts down under have propelled him up to No 62 in the world, still some way off where he needs to be in order to be seeded in Slams.
And after his tournament exit, he outlined the need to maintain his current levels throughout 2023 : “Obviously in the last few years some of the draws at the Slams have been very tricky," he said.
"I was quite clear that it was something I wanted to do last year to try and get into the seeded spots. It didn't quite happen. If I was playing at this level last year, I probably wouldn't be ranked fifty or sixty in the world.”
