Andy Murray, the two-time Wimbledon champion, is expected to enter doubles rather than singles in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament starting next week if he can play at all following recent surgery to remove a cyst on his spinal cord. However, as of Thursday, he still had not made up his mind.
The 37-year-old Murray, who intends to retire in the upcoming months, stated, “Maybe it’s my ego getting in the way, but I feel like I deserve the opportunity to give it until the very last moment to make that decision.” “It’s complicated, and the fact that I want to play at Wimbledon again makes it even more complicated. I’ll give it as long as I can to see how well I recover.”
On Monday, the All England Club will open for play. On Friday, the singles brackets will be determined by draw.
I’ve heard someone ask, “Are you going to pull out before Friday’s draw at 10 a.m.? And I reply, “No, I’m not.” With the ability to play doubles with his older brother Jamie, Murray declared, “I’m going to wait until the very last minute.” “There is no black-and-white here; either I will be 100% ready to play or there is no chance at all that I can.” That’s the way it is. I think the likelihood that I won’t be able to play singles at this time is higher.
Murray had planned to play in Wimbledon before moving on to the Paris Olympics, where the Roland Garros tennis tournament would begin on July 27. However, the most recent in a string of health problems in 2024 arrived: he had to withdraw from the match last week at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament in London due to discomfort and difficulty walking as a result of nerve damage from the cyst, and on Saturday he underwent surgery.
On Wednesday, he started hitting tennis balls again.
Murray desires the opportunity to bid a fitting farewell on the court.
I would like to at least go out playing a genuine match where I’m at least competitive—not what occurred at Queen’s—because of what I’ve put into the sport over the last however many years. Therefore, I can’t say with certainty that I wouldn’t try to play in another tournament elsewhere if I wasn’t able to play at Wimbledon and I didn’t recover in time to play in the Olympics,” he stated on Thursday. “However, that’s probably going to be it if I can play at Wimbledon and the Olympics.”
Furthermore, he currently has no intention of competing in the U.S. Open, which starts in late August.
He declared, “I’m not going to play past this summer.”
With victories at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, the Scot is the owner of three major titles. He also won the U.S. Open in 2012. With his 2013 victory, he became the first male British winner of the All England Club singles trophy in 77 years.
Additionally, he is the only athlete to have won two gold medals in tennis in the same Olympic singles competition. He triumphed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in London in 2012, when the sport’s Summer Games were hosted at the All England Club.