Andy Murray is nearing retirement from tennis is set for a final appearance at Wimbledon, despite injury problems threatening to derail his farewell plans.
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.
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 and also practiced at the National Tennis Centre.
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 is likely to happen on Monday night or even Tuesday daytime to allow time for a lucky loser to prepare for a match against Machac.
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 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
When your private medical details are leaked to the media by someone you thought you could trust. So disappointing.
And – FYI – not ruled out yet. https://t.co/VWu4U01sRU
— judy murray (@JudyMurray) June 24, 2024
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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