Andy Murray will leave the decision on his participation in his scheduled Wimbledon first-round match against Tomas Machac to the very last minute on Tuesday morning as the 37‑year‑old Scot weighs up the benefits of competing in singles at his final Wimbledon despite undergoing back surgery nine days ago.
On Monday, Murray showed clear signs of improvement as he played points with the former British No 1 Kyle Edmund and he was leading by a set and a break when their allocated court time came to an end.
During his 90-minute training session Murray served well, struck the ball comfortably and showed physical improvements but his movement is still extremely limited. He particularly struggled to defend and recover when pulled out wide to his backhand side.
As he spoke to journalists during his short walk from the court, Murray was positive about the progress he has made in such a short space of time but was still unsure of whether it would be enough to be competitive in a best-of-five-set match against Machac, the 39th best player in the world.
“It was good,” Murray said. “I am going to have a chat with my team now and speak to my family this evening and then make a decision. It is getting better. And the testing and stuff I have done is good. Yeah, I just need to decide whether it is enough to compete really.”
As expected, Murray and Machac have been scheduled as the third and final match on Centre Court on Tuesday after Marketa Vondrousova, the defending champion, and Novak Djokovic, who will also be playing his first match after having knee surgery on the torn meniscus he sustained after the French Open.
Murray’s preparation for his final Wimbledon had been ruined by back pain after he was forced to retire from his second-round match at Queen’s Club against Jordan Thompson. Tests revealed that Murray had a spinal cyst that was also causing nerve damage in his back. He was forced to undergo surgery on 22 June and he has been trying to recover since then.
As Murray weighed up his options, many of the walking wounded competing on day one were forced to make their decisions. Aryna Sabalenka, the third seed and a tournament favourite, was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a shoulder injury after casting doubt on her presence in the tournament during her pre-tournament press conference.
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Sabalenka was joined shortly after by her fellow Belarusian and former No 1 Victoria Azarenka, with the 16th seed also citing a shoulder injury. Ekaterina Alexandrova, seeded 22nd, withdrew before her opening match against Emma Raducanu.
