Murray is nearing retirement from tennis and is hoping to make a final appearance at Wimbledon – despite injury problems threatening to derail his farewell plans – admitting on Saturday that he still can’t ‘move properly’.
The 37-year-old British legend, a two-time Wimbledon champion, doesn’t have long left in the sport and has spoken openly about hanging up his racket in 2024.
Plans for an emotional goodbye at this year’s Championships were thrown into chaos, though, when Murray picked up a back injury at Queen’s Club on June 19.
Murray required an operation on a spinal cyst in his back and has been in a race against time to get himself fully fit for Wimbledon 2024 – which starts on Monday.
Many fans wish to know if Murray will feature in the Wimbledon men’s singles and men’s doubles this year – here is everything we know about his injury so far.
Andy Murray confirms he will make final call Monday evening
Andy Murray, speaking in his press conference on Sunday, said that he will make a decision on Monday evening as to whether he will play Wimbledon 2024.
He is training with stitches in his back and will practice again Monday daytime.
Murray also said he has no plans to come back next year and that he wants to feel the buzz of Centre Court and have the opportunity to play Wimbledon one more time.
What did Andy Murray say in his press conference on Sunday?
‘Yeah, I mean, it’s been obviously a tough 10 days or so since Queen’s,’ Andy Murray said. ‘Obviously had, yeah, the operation on the back, which it wasn’t insignificant.
‘Yeah, 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 practicing 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.
‘I have no back pain, which is obviously really good. But the nature of the problem that I had was, yeah, I had quite a large cyst, which was squashing, compressing my nerves, which then obviously lost not all but a lot of control in my right leg. That is getting better.
‘But it’s kind of like if you sleep on your arm funny, you wake up and you’ve got a dead arm. It’s kind of like that feeling. But it goes on for a lot longer because the nerve has been kind of squashed and a little bit damaged for a number of days.
‘How long that takes to regain its full sort of function again is impossible to say. For some people it takes months; for some people it’s weeks.
‘So, yeah, I don’t know exactly how long it’s going to take. But all of the work that we’re doing, the testing we’re doing, is improving every single day with the training and the practicing. It’s not like I’m playing tennis and it’s taking a step backwards.
‘It’s been getting better everyday. I’m hopeful that that continues and it’s going to be enough to be on the court on Tuesday.
‘I might get the exact terminology wrong, but I had a decompression of spinal stenosis in my back, which is not just an issue with the cyst as such, but the cyst is what was causing the issues with my leg, pressing on the nerve.
‘The cyst got removed. I still have stitches in my back now. Yeah, the actual area where I had the operation is not sore. It’s the leg and the function of my leg that will determine whether or not I’m able to play, yeah.
‘Each day it becomes more and more likely that I’ll be able to play properly. Obviously with doubles, although you’re covering less distance and less court, you still need to be able to move pretty explosively.
‘Yeah, if I keep progressing like I have been for the next three, four days, before the doubles starts, then… I played a set today against a good player. Was playing well. Hitting the ball well. Did absolutely fine. I’m hoping that, yeah, with each day that passes that the likelihood of me being able to play will increase.
‘Yeah, I mean, it’s impossible for me to say because I also want to go out there, like I said, and be able to play to a level that I’m happy with. I don’t want to be in a situation like at Queen’s. I don’t want to go on the court and, yeah, it to be awkward or not be able to at least be competitive.
‘Yeah, I mean, I spoke to my brother about that. I’ve obviously spoken to my team about that. We’re all aware of the situation. So, yeah…
‘I mean, 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. Yeah, 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. And what am I looking to get from it? Well, the opportunity to play here again.
‘I mean, for the last time, yeah, that’s kind of it. Like, this is a place that’s obviously been really good to me over the years.
‘Yeah, I guess the last few years you’ve had, I don’t know, like Serena finished playing, Roger finished playing, and Rafa obviously has spoken a lot recently about the struggles he’s gone through. Yeah, everyone has their idea of how they want to finish their career, how they would want it to go.
My idea of that would be, I probably would have seen that happening probably at Wimbledon. Obviously I have the Olympics coming up. But, yeah, I would love the opportunity to play here one more time. Yeah, that’s what I’m looking to get out of it. Whether afterwards I feel like that’s the right thing to do, it was the right thing to do or not, I don’t know. But right now I feel like I want that opportunity.
‘My back doesn’t look good on a scan. It’s not in an amazing place. However, the cyst I think was very unfortunate, where that showed up, because you can have cysts all over your body around degenerative joints and stuff, and they cause no problems. But the fact that it happened to be on my spinal cord was tough, yeah.
‘I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there hopefully on Centre Court, and I don’t know, feel that buzz. Like last year, I wasn’t planning on it being my last year on the Tour.
‘I wanted to come back and play again, whereas this year I have no plans to do that. Yeah, it’s coming to the end of my career and I want to have that opportunity to play here again.’
Is Andy Murray playing Wimbledon singles in 2024?
As things stand, Andy Murray is playing in the Wimbledon men’s singles this year, although that could change all the way up until the very last minute.
The former world No.1 shared a huge injury update on Thursday – insisting he would do everything he can to play – but was absent from practice on Friday.
On Saturday, though, Murray ramped up training and started hitting on site at Wimbledon in a huge boost.
Murray has been drawn to face Czech world No.38 Tomas Machac in the first round – likely to be the third scheduled match on Centre Court on Tuesday.
That means Murray already has an extra day of recovery with the men’s singles getting underway on Monday, improving his chances of making an appearance.
It remains to be seen what final decision Murray will make over the men’s singles – but if he does pull out – it will happen on Monday night.
Is Andy Murray playing Wimbledon doubles in 2024?
It is much more certain that Andy Murray will feature in the men’s doubles this year alongside his brother, Jamie Murray.
That’s because the men’s doubles tournament does not start until Wednesday with some first-round matches not getting underway until Friday, July 5.
The Murray brothers have been drawn to face Australian duo John Peers and Rinky Hijikata in the opening round.
Should they win that match, they could then face fellow Brit Neal Skupski, who has teamed up with Jamie Murray’s regular partner in 2024, Michael Venus.
What did Andy Murray tell reporters at practice on Saturday?
‘There’s risks associated with what I’m trying to do and I’m willing to take that to try and play,’ Andy Murray said courtside on Saturday.
‘We’ll see what happens. I need to be able to move properly, which I can’t yet, so let’s see in 48 hours or so. I don’t know. Tough to know how it’s going to progress, really.’
What else has Andy Murray said about his back injury?
‘The rate that I’m improving just now, if that was to continue then an extra 72 to 96 hours makes a huge difference,’ Andy Murray said on Thursday. ‘It’s complicated, and it’s made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time.
‘I want to have that opportunity to play the tournament and I know that some people might look at that and say, withdrawing from a tournament late at the last minute or something like that isn’t the right thing to do, even though it happens every single week on the Tour.
‘The winner of Queen’s will pull out of Eastbourne when the draw has been done and is clearly totally fit. But I feel like I deserve the opportunity to try to play there again. And I want to have that opportunity, so I’m going to give it as long as I can to see how well I recover.
‘It has been mentioned to me, ‘Are you going to withdraw before the draw at 10am on Friday?’ And I’m like, Well, no, I’m not. I’m going to wait until the last minute to see if I’m going to be able to and I’ve earned that right to do that.
‘This is not clear cut where I am 100 per cent going to be ready to play or there is a 0 per cent chance that I can play. That is the situation. I would say it’s probably more likely that I’m not able to play singles right now. I’m also f****** doing rehab 24/7 to try to give myself that opportunity to play there again.
‘I know that there’s more important things in the world than how I finish playing my last tennis match or where I finished 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, not what happened at Queen’s.
‘So 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.’
What have Andy Murray’s management team said?
Andy Murray’s management team also provided a key update on Thursday.
‘Andy is recovering well from his surgery and has started training again,’ they said.
‘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.’
Media leaks anger Andy Murray camp
Murray had originally confirmed that he was set to play Wimbledon this year – possibly for the final time ever – but that came before the back injury at Queen’s Club on June 19, which forced him to retire mid-match against Jordan Thompson.
Murray required surgery on a spinal cyst in his back following that match and the ATP Tour subsequently said that the British hero would miss Wimbledon following a report in The Telegraph that he would be ruled out for six weeks.
But it later emerged that Murray was not ruled out of Wimbledon after his own mother rubbished the reports, while his team were forced to put out a statement.
‘Following his surgery on Saturday, Andy is continuing to work with his medical team to confirm when he will return to the court,’ the statement read. ‘At this stage, no decisions have been made and we will update further as soon as anything has been finalised.’
Murray’s team were believed to be frustrated about the media leaks, which were dismissed by Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith.
‘I have seen the stories on social media and that is not my understanding,’ Smith told the BBC. ‘This has come from one source and it has a knock-on effect with everyone reporting on it. He obviously went through a procedure and we will have to wait and see now.
‘My understanding is that no decision has been made. Let’s hope for the best for Andy.’
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