Andy Murray will make Wimbledon decision ‘as late as possible’
Andy Murray has provided an update on his Wimbledon participation, with the Brit suggesting that he ‘deserves the opportunity’ to make a late decision on competing.
Murray is currently in a race against time to be fit for The Championships, after pulling up with a back injury at Queen’s Club last week.
The 37-year-old underwent a ‘minor procedure’ on his back on Saturday, and now has only four days to be fit for the major that he has won on two previous occasions.
And the former world No.1’s team have now released a statement on when he is likely to make a decision on his participation, “Andy is recovering well from his surgery and has started training again. At this stage it is too soon to confirm for definite whether he will play Wimbledon, but he is working towards that and a final decision will be made as late as possible to give him the best chance of competing.”
Murray, himself, has also had his say on the situation in an interview with The Times, “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.”
He continued, “If I was to be playing on Monday, I may know on Sunday there’s no chance that I can play. It’s complicated and it’s made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time.
“I don’t want the last time that I play on a tennis court to be what happened at Queen’s. I know there’s more important things in the world than how I finish 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.”
Will Andy Murray make it on court for Wimbedon? ???? pic.twitter.com/P8f7lqe6LG
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) June 27, 2024
Murray is currently entered into both the Wimbledon singles and doubles draws (with brother Jamie Murray).
The Scot has revealed that he is feeling a lot better in terms of pain, but also outlined the risks of competing at SW19 next week.
“I was made aware that if I decided to try to play Wimbledon that there’s some risk associated with that and it’s whether or not I’m willing to take on that risk,” said Murray. “The operation has gone really, really well and I’m recovering really well.
“I’m not in much pain at all, but the nature of nerve injuries is that they’re quite slow to recover. I don’t know exactly how long it’s gonna take for the nerve to get to a stage where I’m able to compete or play, whether that’s three days or whether it’s three weeks or five weeks. It’s impossible to say.”
Murray has been very vocal about the fact that he is probably going to stop playing after the summer, with Wimbledon or the Olympics looking likely to be his final tournament.
However, these latest injury concerns may change those plans, “I can’t say for sure that if I wasn’t able to play at Wimbledon and I didn’t recover in time to play at the Olympics that I wouldn’t consider trying to play another tournament somewhere. But if I’m able to play at Wimbledon and if I’m able to play at the Olympics, that’s most likely going to be it.”
Wimbledon gets underway on Monday 1st July, with the draw taking place at 10am BST tomorrow.
Inside the baseline…
Although it is generally seen as better to withdraw before the qualifying draw takes place, if anyone deserves an exception it is Andy Murray. With that being said, it does seem all very quick for Murray to return and it would not be sensible to risk any further damage. If Murray is to play at Wimbledon, perhaps it would be more sensible for him to just play doubles with his brother as there is less reliance on movement.
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