Andy Murray has said he will not rule out competing at Wimbledon this year “until the very last moment”.
The three-time Grand Slam champion underwent a back operation after he was forced to retire just five games into his second-round match at the Queen’s Club earlier this month. The tennis star required surgery to remove a spinal cyst and many believe the Scot will be forced to miss what could be his last Wimbledon.
But the 37-year-old, who had planned to retire from tennis this summer, has revealed he started hitting tennis balls only four days after the operation and has not given up hope of playing at his home Grand Slam tournament. He said: “I would say it’s probably more likely that I’m not able to play singles right now.”
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Murray – who the Express reports holds out hope of a doubles appearance with his brother Jamie despite battling injuries – added: “I’m also f***ing doing rehab 24/7 to try to give myself that opportunity to play there again.”
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) had previously come under fire for tweeting and then deleting a post saying that Murray would not compete at Wimbledon, which left his mum fuming. Judy Murray raged: “When your private medical details are leaked to the media by someone you thought you could trust. So disappointing,” she tweeted, adding: “And FYI not ruled out yet.”
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Murray said he would have risked serious health “complications” without surgery and will “most likely” retire after Wimbledon and the Olympics if able to play – but if not, will choose another farewell appearance in a “proper match”. He had “neural pain” in his lower back which caused a loss of “power” and “co-ordination” in his right leg, meaning he had to go under the knife at the weekend.
Murray said: “Obviously the last week’s been pretty tough. There’s obviously a lot going on with me planning on finishing at the Olympics. I’m trying everything I can to play, I’m practising on the court, I’m rehabbing and trying to accelerate this process to give myself a chance to play.
“It has been mentioned to me, are you going to withdraw before the draw at 10am on Friday? And I’m like: ‘Well, no, I’m not. I’m going to wait until the last minute to see if I’m going to be able to and I’ve earned that right to do that’.
“This is not clear cut where I am 100% going to be ready to play or there is a 0% chance that I can play. That is the situation. I would say it’s probably more unlikely that I’m not able to play singles right now. I’m also f***ing doing rehab 24/7 to try to give myself that opportunity to play there again.”
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Murray added: “Maybe it’s my ego getting in the way but I feel that I deserve the opportunity to give it until the very last moment to make that decision. If I was to be playing on Monday, I may know on Sunday there’s no chance that I can play. it’s not going to recover overnight from where it is enough to allow me to play.
“So a decision to play singles, I may be able to make that on Sunday or whatever. But also if it is progressing…I’m on the court yesterday and I’m able to go on the court and move around more today and start to do more sort of tennis movements and stuff.
Murray, who has won two golds in men’s singles before, snagged an ITF wildcard for the Olympics as a past Grand Slam champion and had plans to hit the doubles court with Dan Evans. Yet his ongoing back problems also put his Tokyo hopes in jeopardy and ruined retirement plans.
He said: “All of the discussions and conversations that I’ve had with my team are that I’m not going to play past this summer. Obviously I’ve had the conversation with my family. and I have a family holiday booked the week after the Olympics. I’m not planning on going over to New York.
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“But then I also don’t want the last time that I played on a tennis court to be what happened at Queen’s either, and again I know that there’s more important things in the world than how I finish playing my last tennis match or where I finished playing my last tennis match.
“But because of what I put into the sport over the last however many years, I would at least like to go out playing a proper match where I’m at least competitive, not what happened at Queen’s.”
It has emerged Wimbledon chiefs are set to offer Murray a new role at the All England Club if the two-time champ at SW19 decides to hang up his racket for good. Debbie Jevans, the head of the club, says they’ve got something special in mind to celebrate Murray’s smashing career.
She said: “We’ve been thinking how to mark the occasion if Andy should choose to retire, and having discussions with the family. Ultimately it’s his choice and we’ll back him with whatever he wants to do. There are plans in place.”
Jevans added: “Andy has been such an amazing ambassador for the sport and the country. If he chooses to step down we’ll celebrate accordingly. If there was a time when he wanted to be involved in the club, we’d welcome that conversation with him.”