Andy Murray will leave a decision on his participation at Wimbledon “as late as possible” as he aims to give himself “the best chance” of making what could be his last appearance at the event.
Murray, Wimbledon champion in 2013 and 2016, had surgery on a spinal cyst on Saturday after retiring at Queen’s earlier this month during his second-round match against Jordan Thompson following numbness in his right leg, with the Scot later saying he wished he had not gone on court.
With Wimbledon beginning on Monday, Murray’s team released a statement revealing the 37-year-old had resumed training and that he is “working towards” participating, although Murray said in an interview with The Times that “it’s probably more likely that I’m not able to play singles right now.”
Murray – who has indicated he will soon retire from tennis, with this summer’s Olympics in Paris a “fitting” endpoint – could still play in doubles with brother Jamie.
The statement from Murray’s team read: “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.”
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Murray said he rued going on the court after retiring with a back injury during his match against Australian Jordan Thompson at the Queen’s Club
‘I don’t want Queen’s to be my last time on a tennis court’
Speaking to The Times, Murray said: “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 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 where I’m at least competitive.”
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Emma Raducanu relates to Murray’s injury struggles and hopes that he will be fit to play at Wimbledon
“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. 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 could play on if he is not fit for Wimbledon or Olympics
Murray, who won Olympic gold at Wimbledon in 2012 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, was named in Great Britain’s squad for the 2024 Games.
He is hoping to play singles as well as in the men’s doubles with Dan Evans at Roland Garros from Saturday July 27.
“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.”
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