Andy Murray breaks silence on Wimbledon, reveals when he will make decision and lifts lid on spinal cyst op

Andy Murray had surgery on a spinal cyst last week. | Getty Images for LTA

Andy Murray will leave his decision on whether to play Wimbledon until the very last minute as he tries to recover from spinal surgery. But he rates his chances as “more likely that I'm not able to play singles right now.”

 

The Scot had an operation to remove a cyst from his spine last week after his dramatic and heartbreaking withdrawal from the Queen’s Club event. As he walked to the court to play his second round match, he lost strength and coordination in his right leg. He hobbled through a handful of games before pulling out.

 

“I was told I had to have the surgery immediately by multiple surgeons because of the nature of the problem,” Murray said. “Although the surgery is not a major surgery, the problem was a serious problem because if the cyst continues to grow, you're likely to have other complications as well. Obviously, I couldn't risk that or allow that to happen because I was struggling to walk properly because my nerves were getting really compressed.”

 

Murray had decided months ago that he would probably finish his career at Wimbledon and the Olympics. Now he faces the prospect of his last match being that painful exit at Queen’s Club – and after all he has been through over the past five years, that is one he does not want to contemplate. That is why he is doing everything in his power to recover in time for Wimbledon even it means leaving his decision to play or not until the eleventh hour.

 

Andy Murray had surgery on a spinal cyst last week. | Getty Images for LTA

“Maybe it's my ego getting in the way but I feel that I deserve the opportunity to give it until the very last moment to make that decision,” he said. “If I'm not able to play singles, I don't know exactly when the first round doubles matches start, but there's a difference with how I'm recovering to play on a Monday as opposed to playing on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

 

“The rate that I'm improving just now, if that was to continue then an extra 72 to 96 hours makes a huge difference. It's complicated, and it's made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time.”

 

Murray had planned to play doubles with his brother, Jamie, alongside his singles campaign. That, too, is now in doubt. He is recovering well from the surgery – he has already back on the practise court – and the doubles option may be his only chance of playing at Wimbledon.

 

“I feel like I deserve the opportunity to try to play there again,” he said. “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.

 

“I spoke to my brother about that a couple of days ago to see if he wants to find someone else to play with, and I was obviously absolutely fine with that. But he also wants the opportunity to try to play. We'll see how the next few days go.

 

“I also don't want the last time that I played on a tennis court to be what happened at Queen's either, and again I know that there's more important things in the world than how I finish 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.”