Andy Murray announces his ‘complicated’ plan to retire after the Olympics, at 37, as he vows to ‘f***ing do rehab 24/7’ to make it to Wimbledon next week but will struggle to play in singles

Andy Murray admits it’s ‘more likely I won’t be able to play singles’ at Wimbledon, but vowed he’s ‘f****** rehabbing 24/7 to give myself the chance to play there again ‘just one last time.

The 37-year-old has opened up about his surgery to remove a spinal cyst, his struggle to play at Wimbledon for the final time and his plans to retire.

The draw for the championships will take place on Friday, but Murray would not play his first match until Monday or Tuesday and said: “I deserve the chance to make a decision until the very last minute.” If he is not suited for singles, he would aim to play doubles with brother Jamie.

He confirmed his plan is to retire from tennis after next month’s Olympics – he said he has “booked a family holiday the week after” – but could consider a different exit strategy if he is unable to to play at Wimbledon or Paris.

Murray withdrew from his second-round match at Queen’s on Wednesday after nerve pain caused by the cyst immobilized his right leg. And on Saturday he underwent minor surgery to remove the cyst.

“Obviously the last week has been quite tough,” he said, for the first time since Queen’s. “When I suffered the injury at Queen’s and then had the subsequent scans and doctor’s appointments, it was quite a difficult situation. Multiple surgeons told me I needed surgery immediately.

‘I had a fairly large cyst on my spinal cord, which was already visible on a scan after Roland Garros, but the cyst grew considerably in the following two to three weeks.

“So I had to have the surgery, but I was given multiple different timelines for how long that would take. And it was also pointed out to me that if I decided to play Wimbledon, there was a certain risk involved and what matters is whether I am willing to take that risk or not.

‘But even though there may be a risk, the operation went very, very well and I am recovering very well. I hit some balls yesterday. I don’t have much pain at all, but the nature of nerve damage is that they heal quite slowly.

“I don’t know exactly how long it will take me to have the courage to reach a stage where I can compete, whether that’s three days, or three weeks, or five weeks. It’s impossible to say.

‘I’m in quite a difficult position because I’m recovering very well every day, I’m progressing very well, but I don’t know how I’ll wake up tomorrow and how quickly my nerves will recover because it’s not the same as injuring or tearing a muscle .’

The surgery has derailed his retirement plans, and Murray has been candid about where it leaves him in that regard.

“All the discussions and conversations I’ve had with my team are based on the assumption that I’m not going to play past this summer,” he said. ‘Of course I had the conversation with my family, I booked a family holiday the week after the Olympics.

‘I don’t plan to go to New York (for the US Open). But I also don’t want the last time I played on a tennis court to be the same as what happened at Queen’s.

“I know there are more important things in the world than how or where I play my last tennis match, but because of what I’ve put into the sport over the years, I would at least like to play a real match where I’m in at least competitive, not what happened at Queen’s.

‘So I can’t say for sure that if I couldn’t play at Wimbledon and I didn’t recover in time to play at the Olympics, I wouldn’t think about playing another tournament somewhere. But if I can play at Wimbledon and play at the Olympics, then probably, yes.”

Asked when he would make a final decision about playing at Wimbledon, he replied: ‘That’s the difficult part. Maybe my ego gets in the way, but I think I deserve the chance to give it until the very last moment to make that decision.

“If I can’t play singles, I don’t know exactly when the doubles matches in the first round start, but there is a difference in how I recover to play on Monday instead of playing on Thursday, Friday or Sunday. Saturday… an extra 72 to 96 hours makes a huge difference.

‘It’s complicated, and made even more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon again.

“I talked to my brother about that a few days ago in doubles to see if he wants to find someone else to play with, and that was fine with me. But he also wants the opportunity to try to play. We’ll see how the next few days go.

‘If there was no chance of me being able to play Wimbledon – which I thought there was a week ago when I had my initial consultations and everything, I was told it would be six to 12 weeks – I wouldn’t be sitting here today waiting until the last minute for my name to go into the draw.

“I was told, are you going to withdraw from the 10am draw on Friday? And I think: Well, no, I won’t do that. I wait until the last minute to see if I can do that and I’ve earned that right to do that. It’s not clear if I’m 100 percent ready to play or if there’s zero percent chance I can play. I’d say it’s more likely that I won’t be able to play singles right now. I’m also rehabbing fucking 24/7 to give myself the chance to play there again.

‘But maybe this is also the way it was meant for me. I wish I could go into Wimbledon this year with a good grass season behind me and feeling prepared and ready to go. I certainly couldn’t have prepared worse for Wimbledon. But maybe this is just how it’s meant to be for me. Playing doubles with Jamie is something I’ve obviously never done before. That can also be special. But yeah, it’s been a tough, tough few weeks. And I just hope that the next few days go well and that I continue to progress and that I get the opportunity to play there again.”