Andy Murray’s surgery branded a ‘disaster’ as tennis great claims Brit believed he could win Wimbledon

Andy Murray looks on

Tennis legend Mats Wilander has described the timing of Andy Murray’s injury and surgery before the 2024 Wimbledon Championships as a “disaster.”

The seven-time Grand Slam champion asserted that Murray would have believed he had a chance to win Wimbledon this year if not for the injury blow.

Murray is fighting to be fit to compete at Wimbledon, which will begin on Monday, after he underwent surgery to remove a cyst from his back just nine days before the start of the event.

The three-time Grand Slam champion was forced to retire from his second round match against Jordan Thompson at the Queen’s Club Championships last week due to the injury.

The 37-year-old former world No 1 has revealed the operation was successful and he will make a late decision on whether he will play at the grass-court Grand Slam.

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Murray has confirmed his intention is to retire at the 2024 Paris Olympics, meaning this year’s edition of Wimbledon will be his last chance to appear at the All England Club barring a change of plan.

Wilander argued Murray would have liked his chances at Wimbledon if healthy and expressed his hope that his fellow great continues playing.

“When is he choosing to retire? You hope that he does it at Wimbledon in many ways, or is it to represent Great Britain at the Olympics? I’m not sure,” the Swede told Eurosport.

“But certainly with Rafa [Nadal] not being Rafa anymore, with Novak [Djokovic] maybe not playing Wimbledon, I would think that if your name is Andy Murray, you are looking at the field, and he has a chance to do extremely well at Wimbledon, which he did last year, too.

“So in a way, it (the injury) is a disaster. I would think Andy Murray will show up if he is 90 per cent healthy. Especially if it’s going to be the last tournament of his career.

“I think he’s at the stage where [he was thinking], ‘yeah, it could be my last tournament, but I also feel like I have a chance to win Wimbledon’ – because of his knowledge of Wimbledon and the grass court.

“It’s very sad if he doesn’t get to play, but I think that will just allow us to see him play one more tournament somewhere because I do think Andy Murray is going to play a match and retire on that court after he’s lost his last match.

“He’s so in tune with the history of the game and he’s given so much to professional tennis, especially in Great Britain. I think he wants to make it a public thing on the Centre Court at Wimbledon. I hope he’s healthy and doesn’t retire at Wimbledon personally.”

The former world No 1 also suggested Murray may reconsider his plan to retire this season and he feels the Brit could bounce back from his injury setback.

“You don’t have to be healthy for 12 months in a row. You can get injured, and then you just have to work your way back. It is possible to get it back physically, and it’s possible to get it back emotionally,” Wilander continued.

“I think Nadal has proven that, and I think Andy Murray has proved that to himself, too, that age is mainly just a number if you stay healthy, if you eat the right things, and if you work out all the time.

“Okay, he never came back to the top of the game, but the difference between where Andy Murray came back to and where he was when he was No 1 in the world is physically not very big.

“Mentally, there’s a little bit of a difference, but it’s not huge. I think he knows that. I think he knows that if I get injured, I work hard, I can get back to being on the professional circuit again.”

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