Andy Murray insists he's at peace with his decision to retire and says the Paris Olympics is the best place for his last dance - as he reveals what he will do next

Andy Murray is at peace. After all the scalpels and internal monologues that cut even deeper, he has accepted that his magnificent time as an elite tennis player will end in the coming days.

As ever, his journey to contentment has been a battle of wills and a point contested fiercely by his survival instincts on one side of the net and painful truths on the other.

But sitting in a classroom at the catering school repurposed as Team GB’s base in Paris, he told a small gathering of reporters on Wednesday that he can at last reconcile himself to the inevitable. ‘I feel good about it,’ he said, and his teeth weren’t especially gritted as he spoke.

That will mean the sets he plays alongside Dan Evans in the Olympic doubles competition here, starting on Saturday, will conclude a professional career spanning 19 years. Realism and time have finally got the better of one of sport’s most determined dreamers.

‘I wasn't sure how I would feel a few months ago, to be honest,’ he said, with the defining moment evidently coming when he followed a serious ankle injury in March by sustaining a new back problem at Queens in June.

‘I was unsure about it,’ he added. ‘I had a lot of conversations with my family, with my wife. I was unsure about the injury during Queen's, but I had been struggling with my back through most of the clay court season after the ankle injury.

‘I knew that it was the right time and I'm happy about it now. I didn't feel that way a few months ago when I (first) thought this is when I was going to stop.

‘I didn't really want to, whereas now I want to and I know that it's the right time for me, so I feel good about it.’

Time will tell what kind of finale Murray can deliver at the age of 37. He has effectively written off playing in the singles and concedes his back ‘is still not perfect’ for the doubles, but he does believe he can go out under the glow of another medal.

He has two already, of course, and it is perhaps testament to what he achieved in winning three Slams, and the location of a couple of them in particular, that his Olympic singles titles in 2012 and 2016 can be understated in discussions around his legacy.

Not to Murray, though. That he has chosen Paris as the location for his retirement, and not Wimbledon, where he received a tribute parade on Centre Court earlier this month, is no accident. On Tuesday, when he announced this would be his last tournament on social media, he described the Olympics as having provided ‘by far the most memorable weeks of my career’, which ties closely to his decision to stay in the athletes’ village.

That is not as common as it might sound for those stars of bigger sports who enter this melting-pot environment - Novak Djokovic for one has made his own arrangements for the next week or so.

‘I just know that every time I've come to the Olympics that it feels totally different and I personally love it,’ Murray said.

‘Some of the tennis players feel the same as me, some of them don't, but usually it's the ones that aren't necessarily in with a shot at winning medals potentially. But for me it's been an amazing experience - I love being around all the other athletes, I love being part of a team, representing my country.

‘When you're staying in the village and when you're around all the other athletes, it just feels like you're part of something bigger than just yourself or your own sport.

‘The Olympics is really special. I don't know, maybe when you're on your own on the tour, it is at times a little bit lonely. Maybe it is a little bit more stressful in some ways. I don't know the exact reason. I just know when I'm here and when I'm around the other athletes and in the village that it feels different to me. It feels more important.’

To a competitor like Murray, that importance extends to the outcome of his collaboration with Evans at Roland Garros. He says he has trained ‘unbelievably hard’ for this last dance and it was also possible to detect some gentle frustration in his tone when he discussed Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, as if that was ever going to be more than a ceremonial occasion. That spirit is unlikely to switch off when the lights go out in retirement.

Murray briefly slipped into contemplation of what comes next on Wednesday. It remains hazy. ‘I won't be on the road much, I know that,’ he said. ‘I'll play a lot of golf. I want to become a scratch golfer (he played off six before his hip and back troubles).

‘I haven't played for five or six years. That's something I really want to do initially. I don't know exactly what the rest of my life will look like, but I will still stay in touch with the sport. My love for the sport won't go away, so I'll definitely see myself being involved in tennis.

‘I don't see myself playing any of the invitational things or those sort of events. I don't think so. When I play sport, I like to compete. I want to be competitive. I don't want to just have a hit and a giggle.

‘I would love to be part of the next Olympics in some capacity as well, but I don't have any clear plans on what it is I'm going to do from a work perspective.’

Before that point he has one last shot in the game he has illuminated for two decades. One last wrestling match with a tired and scarred body on the biggest stage in all of sport. One last rage against himself before finally giving peace a chance.