Andy Murray will make a decision on whether to play singles at Wimbledon on Monday evening ahead of what are expected to be his final Championships, but revealed he still does not have “100 per cent feeling” in his right leg after undergoing an operation to remove a spinal cyst last weekend.
The two-time Wimbledon champion is scheduled to face Tomas Machac in the first round on Tuesday and although the 37-year-old says his condition is “getting better every day”, Murray confirmed there is a risk the wound in his back reopens by returning to competitive action so soon after surgery.
Murray is determined to appear at Wimbledon for final time before retiring and has received a wildcard to play doubles with his brother Jamie, which is less demanding physically. The doubles competition starts later in the week and would allow Murray to bid farewell to Wimbledon if he is not fit enough for singles.
But the former world No 1 is not ruling out playing on Centre Court on Tuesday and says he will make a decision after his final practice session. Murray wants to “feel the buzz” on Centre Court for one last time and have some “closure” before ending his career.
“It’s been obviously a tough 10 days or so since Queen’s,” Murray said. “Had the operation on the back, which wasn’t insignificant. I’ve just been trying to do everything that I can to try and get ready to start the tournament here.
“I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. I’ve been practising for the last few days. I played a set today. It went pretty well, but I still don’t have 100 per cent sort of feeling and sensation in my leg yet.
“It’s getting better every single day. Like I said a few days ago, I want to give it every single chance that I can to get there. I’m going to play another set again tomorrow. I’m doing some physical testing in the morning to see sort of how far off I am from a physical perspective. Then I will probably make a decision tomorrow evening after that.”
Murray underwent an operation on a spinal cyst after retiring from his second-round match at Queen’s last week, with the 37-year-old unable to move freely due to back and right leg pain. It was initially reported that Murray had been advised to have a six-week lay-off period and would miss Wimbledon and he is aware of the risks involved by playing so soon after an operation.
“It depends what you consider a considerable risk, really,” Murray said. “From discussions that I’ve had with my surgeon and the medical experts that are around me, the biggest risk is sort of from the wound perspective, sort of a reopening of the wound. My spine is strong and stable. The inflammation is coming down every single day. There’s been minimal disruption to the muscles and everything.
“The issue would be if the wound, which is extremely small, it was a keyhole operation, if that was to reopen, I would then have to go and have that sorted. But I’m okay with that, with that risk. If I was worried about doing more damage to my spine or something like that, yeah, that would be very different. But I’m okay with a few stitches coming loose or whatever.”
Murray became Britain’s first male Wimbledon winner in 77 years when he defeated Novak Djokovic to win the 2013 final, adding another title in 2016. Murray said had not “no plans” to come back again next year, confirming that he will end his career either after Wimbledon or the Paris Olympics, where he is a two-time gold medal winner.
“Everyone has their idea of how they want to finish their career, how they would want it to go,” he said. “My idea of that would be, I probably would have seen that happening probably at Wimbledon. Obviously I have the Olympics coming up but I would love the opportunity to play here one more time.”
