Andy Murray reveals deadline for crunch Wimbledon decision

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Andy Murray has revealed he will likely decide on Monday night whether he can play at Wimbledon or not.

All eyes have been on whether Murray would be able to play or not after he retired from his round two match at the Queen’s Club Championships two weeks ago.

The 37-year-old proceeded to have surgery on a back cyst in the aftermath of his Queen’s retirement and was forced to deny claims he was already out of SW19 after a report in The Telegraph claimed he had already pulled out.

The two-time Wimbledon champion is playing at his home Grand Slam event for the final time and was handed a boost when Friday’s draw was made.

The Brit was pulled out on the opposite side of the draw to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, ensuring a Tuesday start and guaranteeing an extra day to regain fitness.

However, ahead of his opener against Tomas Machac – which will likely be on Centre Court, should Murray play – the former world No 1 admitted he had still not come to an official decision yet.

“I mean, it’s been obviously a tough 10 days or so since Queen’s,” he said. “I had the operation on the back, which wasn’t insignificant.

“I’ve 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 practising for the last few days. I played a set today.

“It went pretty well, but I still don’t have 100 percent 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 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.”

It will be hoped that Murray can at least make it onto the court for his match against Czech star Machac, who prevailed in three sets when they met at the Miami Open – a contest in which Murray injured his ankle.

Centre Court has been the defining court of Murray’s career and to play at least one more match there would be a fitting farewell for Britain’s greatest-ever tennis player.

However, should he be unable to play in the singles, it will still be hoped that he can play doubles alongside his older brother Jamie, the pair having been awarded a wildcard into the draw.

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