Murray and Soares won 10 titles and two Grand Slam titles in their three-and-a-half-year partnership
Tuesday 28 May 2019 14:06, UK
Jamie Murray’s final tournament with Brazilian doubles partner Bruno Soares ended in a first-round defeat at the French Open.
The duo, who have been together for three and a half years, lost 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4) to Italian pair Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego.
Murray will move on to partner British doubles No 3 Neal Skupski, who has played alongside older brother Ken for the past six years, for the grass-court campaign beginning with the tournament at s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
Soares, who will team up with Croatian Mate Pavic, revealed on Monday that Murray had asked to end the partnership after their first-round exit in Rome earlier this month.
Soares told matchtiebreak.com: "Jamie called me and we chatted, where he told me that no matter how much the results are coming out, they did not match the expectation we had, and he thought it would be a good time for us to change.
"It was a very nice chat and I agreed. It came from him, but I respect that. I think that, as much as we have become friends, this is still our profession. If he is feeling this, some dissatisfaction, I have to respect that and look for something different."
Murray and Soares began their partnership in 2016 and won two Grand Slam titles together at the Australian Open and US Open that year.
They won 10 titles together, the most recent coming in Sydney in January, and qualified for the ATP Finals in each of their three seasons together, while Murray also reached the world No 1 ranking in April 2016.
Murray, who earlier this month ruled out playing alongside brother Andy at this summer's Wimbledon, is yet to comment publicly on the new partnership.
The Skupski brothers defeated fellow British duo Luke Bambridge and Jonny O'Mara 6-1 6-2 in the first round at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
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