Andy Murray will give himself until the last minute to decide if he will take part in Wimbledon this year.
The Scot, who is scheduled to face Tomas Machac in the first round on Centre Court on Tuesday, was due to announce on Monday evening whether he would be fit enough to take to the grass or if he would sadly miss out.
But, after a competitive practice session with Kyle Edmund on Monday, the Dunblane ace is still mulling over whether he is in a good enough physical shape to compete and it is now understood he will make his final call on TOMORROW, according to PA. Murray was leading Edmund 6-3 2-0 when they reached the end of their session, and he said afterwards: “It was good. I’m going to go and have a chat with my team now, speak to my family this evening and then make a decision. It’s getting better and the testing and stuff I’ve done has been good, I just need to decide whether it’s enough to compete.”
Murray, who underwent surgery to remove a spinal cyst nine days ago, was serving well and hitting some strong groundstokes but his movement undoubtedly remains compromised and he was struggling when pulled out wide. Machac is ranked 39th and would likely make the match a phyiscal encounter, although he is inexperienced on the grass surface. While Murray is understandably desperate to make a final singles appearance at the All England Club before retirement, he would want to be able to give a good account of himself.
Murray’s last-gasp call proves a headache for Wimbledon organisers in terms of Tuesday’s order of play, but chief executive Sally Bolton said: “We’ve always got plenty of scheduling challenges to face. As he said himself, Andy has earned the right to make the decision and we will absolutely respect that.
“All of us have therefore got to be agile in the way that we deliver our plans, but we’re really happy to do that. It’s very much for Andy to make this decision and make it at the right time for him. We would love to see him on court. Of course, if he isn’t, we’ve got plenty of other tennis going on, but I know the fans will be absolutely desperate to see him play so we wish him well in getting on court.”