ANDY MURRAY HAS U-TURN PLAN IF WIMBLEDON AND OLYMPICS DREAM ENDS IN TATTERS

Andy Murray has dropped a bombshell about his tennis future. The Scotsman is facing a race to be fit after being forced to retire injured from Queen's last week.

Murray had planned to play at both Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics this summer. But those plans took a hit after a debilitating "neural pain" in his lower back which forced him to withdraw from his round of 16 match against Jordan Thompson at the Cinch Championships.

This setback, which sapped the "power" and "co-ordination" from his right leg, led the 37-year-old to undergo surgery for a spinal cyst on Saturday (June 22). It has cast significant doubt over his likely last appearance at the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis Club, reports the Mirror.

Despite the surgery potentially sidelining him for the grass court tournament, the three-time Grand Slam winner is keeping fans on their toes with talks of an epic return next month. Murray is contemplating one last swansong before hanging up his racket.

Reflecting on his illustrious career and its potential end, Murray remarked: "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".

While Murray hasn't dismissed the idea of competing in the Paris Olympics, he conceded that if he's unfit for Wimbledon or the Games, it wouldn't necessarily mean the curtain call on his storied career just yet.

"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," the two-time Wimbledon champ confessed. "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".

He also divulged why he opted for immediate spinal cyst surgery, a course of action urged by several medical experts. "I was told I had to have the surgery immediately by multiple surgeons because of the nature of the problem," Murray disclosed.

"I had a pretty decent sized cyst on my spinal cord which had been seen on a scan post-French Open, but it was pretty small and it grew significantly in size over the next two to three weeks." Murray has been drawn to take on Tomas Machac in the opening round of the men's singles at the beginning of next week, if he manages to take part at all.

2024-06-28T13:46:54Z dg43tfdfdgfd