Andy Murray: Did we all just retire the Briton too soon?

Andy Murray's mother Judy posted this picture - created by Nial Smith - of him in knight's armour

Did we all retire Andy Murray too soon?

To be fair, the Briton told reporters on Friday that he plans to retire after this year's Wimbledon, but the Australian Open could be the final tournament of his career.

Fast-forward to Monday and the Scot is telling the world he isn't done just yet.

Immediately after his first-round defeat by Roberto Bautista Agut, Murray told Mark Petchey - the on-court interviewer and Murray's first professional coach - "If this was my last match, it was an amazing way to end."

Key word there: "If..."

"Maybe I'll see you again. I'll do everything possible to try," he continued.

"If I want to go again, I'll need to have a big operation, which there's no guarantee I'll be able to come back from anyway, but I'll give it my best shot."

Unfortunately for the organisers of the Aussie Open, his announcement was poorly timed...

They had compiled and planned to run a heartfelt and emotional VT, featuring tear-jerking 'congratulations on your retirement' messages from Rafael Nadal, Caroline Wozniacki, Novak Djokovic and other top players.

Given the effort the organisers had gone to, they decided to go ahead and play it, in spite of what Murray had just said.

Of course, people on social media reacted to the slightly awkward moment...

BBC Radio 5 Live commentator David law found the whole thing rather amusing...

Cricketer Michael Vaughan also found the montage a little strange, considering Murray hadn't actually made his retirement official:

It's clear from the reaction on Twitter that people are equally as reluctant to let go of Murray's career as he is:

We all knew Murray has a decent sense of humour, but can his fans handle this kind of emotional rollercoaster? Surely they should be used to it by now?

But knowing Murray like they do, he could just be trolling us all...