Ronnie O’Sullivan believes Andy Murray deserves his status as one of the greatest British sportsmen of all time.

Murray is set to retire from tennis this season and bowed out from the Australian Open this week, earning a strong ovation despite his first-round exit.

And with two Wimbledon titles, one US Open, a Davis Cup triumph and two Olympic gold medals, O’Sullivan believes Murray is to thank for a new-found strength of British tennis.

“He’s done amazingly well to break the mould, tennis was a bit like football – it was ingrained in you to be happy with the semi-finals and class that as a victory,” he said.

“But he changed that and said he can be British and winner in a global sport, you have to admire him for that as one of our greatest sportsmen of all time.

“You have to take your hat off to Murray, when you’re in a sport like tennis, you can be conditioned to accept losing but he’s been strong enough to say he won’t accept that.

“It takes a special character to go and do anything else but that.”

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