Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand has told Andy Murray to "leave it now" and retire from professional tennis with a savage message for the Scottish superstar.
Murray turns 37 years old in May this year having made his ATP Tour debut back in 2005.
The British tennis star climbed all the way to the top of the men's game in the same era as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to take the world No 1 spot and ended Britain's long wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion.
But injuries have taken their toll on the tennis star in recent years and he plummeted down the men's rankings.
Andy Murray is looking to make a deep run in Australia
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Murray has been on the comeback trail for the past few seasons now and last year was seen as his best chance yet to climb back into the seeded spots.
However, he struggled to go deep at any of the majors and that's ultimately where Murray wants to test himself the most.
Murray will be hoping to rectify that at this month's Australian Open, but Ferdinand believes now is the time for the tennis icon to bring his career to an end.
“He’s got to leave it now,” Ferdinand said.
“I’ve been there. Those injuries don’t go away, they keep getting worse and keep coming back.
“I’m done with hearing Andy Murray is still trying. What is he trying for? He ain’t got nothing else to prove.
“Murray is an absolute great. He was a warrior of the sport, winning Wimbledon twice. He was tops.
“When you think he was fighting against Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. He was amazing to win against those guys.
”Murray has no immediate plans to call time on his career, but he admitted last year that "things might change".
Rio Ferdinand feels Andy Murray should retire
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It's been five years since the Brit reached the last-16 of a Grand Slam and not being seeded in the men's rankings has ultimately cost him with some difficult opening-round matches.
He insists that he is still enjoying his tennis and the day-to-day grind that comes with staying at the highest level.
But Murray has admitted that enjoyment may diminish if he starts going backwards in the rankings.
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He said: “I think was close to - you never know what's gonna happen - but I think I was close to having a good run at Wimbledon.
“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level. I enjoy the work. You know, the training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that.
“Yeah, and that's what keeps me going. If things change and I stop enjoying that or my results, my ranking and everything, like, if I start to go backwards in that respect, you know, in a few months' time I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up the way, things might change.”
