Andy Murray believes he “should” have the chance to play Wimbledon for the final time but will wait until the last minute before deciding to compete as he returns to training after back surgery and takes positive steps during his recovery. .
“The pace I’m picking up right now, if this continues, those extra 72 to 96 hours will make a huge difference,” Murray said Thursday. “It’s complicated and it gets more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon again. I want to have the chance to play in the tournament and I know some people might look at that and say, pulling out of the tournament at the last minute or something like that is not The right thing to do, even though this happens every tour week.
“The winner of the Queen’s side will pull out of Eastbourne after the draw and is obviously fully fit. But I feel I should get the chance to try and play there again. I hope to have that opportunity so I’ll try my best to Give it and see how I recover.”
Murray, a two-time Wimbledon winner and Olympic gold medalist, had planned to end his career at Wimbledon or the Olympics this summer, but his final grass-court season at Queen’s Club turned disastrous last Wednesday. The transformation, which became a five-time champion, was forced to withdraw from the second round due to back pain.
Murray said a spinal cord cyst had been discovered in a scan after the French Open, but it had grown significantly after the Queens match. Murray, who underwent back surgery on Saturday after numerous medical consultations following his retirement, was initially told he would be out for six to 12 weeks and had no chance of playing at Wimbledon again.
He spent the next few days looking for new opinions. Murray said the recovery process has gone well and he started hitting again on Wednesday, but each day will have an impact on his prospects of playing again.
Before the injury, Murray was also scheduled to play doubles with his brother Jamie for the first time at Wimbledon. Although he is more likely to play the best-of-five doubles match, Murray will take part in the singles draw at 10am on Friday and he has no compunction. He believes he deserves this opportunity.
“Someone mentioned to me, ‘Are you going to quit before the draw at 10 a.m. on Friday?’ I thought, well, no, I’m not. I’m going to wait until the last minute to see if I can do that, and I I’ve earned the right to do that. It’s not clear if I’m 100% ready to play or if there’s a 0% chance of playing. I’d say it’s more likely I won’t be able to play singles. Damn doing rehab 24/7 trying to give myself a chance to play there again.
The injury left Murray facing a series of brutal choices in the final weeks of his career. Either rush back, make one last appearance at Wimbledon, end his career and never play Wimbledon again, or try to come back next year even though his body is clearly screaming at him to stop. Murray said he will not return next year and has no plans to play in the U.S. Open, but he may have to change his mind if he is unable to travel to courses in London or Paris.
“I know there are more important things in the world than how I finished my last tennis match or where I finished my last tennis match. But because of my investment in the sport over the years, I wanted to go out and play at least one I was at least competitive enough to play properly, not what happened at Queen’s, so I can’t say for sure that if I couldn’t make it to Wimbledon and I didn’t recover in time for the Olympics, I wouldn’t consider trying elsewhere. But if I get to Wimbledon and get to the Olympics, that’s probably it.
While the situation is far from ideal, that’s the card Murray has been dealt. As he has done for 19 years as a professional tennis player, his way of dealing with adversity is to put his head down and try his best to find a way out.
“I hope to go into Wimbledon this year with a proper grass court season and be fully prepared and ready to go,” Murray said. “Of course I couldn’t have prepared for Wimbledon in a worse way. But maybe that’s what was destined to happen to me.
