Inside Andy Murray’s plans to make Wimbledon count after pulling out of Surbiton

ROLAND GARROS — Andy Murray will have a procedure on his back to keep his bid for a Wimbledon swan song.

Murray, 37, complained of struggling with his back during the clay-court swing and appeared to suffer a recurrence of the problem during his first-round French Open defeat to Stan Wawrinka.

But the 2016 Roland Garros finalist has now revealed that he had forgone a procedure, believed to be a series of injections, he would usually have had ahead of the clay-court swing to deal with back issues exacerbating by the instability surface.

And instead he will play catch-up by having a medical intervention next week, less than a month away from what is expected to be his last Wimbledon.

“I really didn’t feel good,” Murray told reporters in Paris.

“My back has been a problem the last few weeks for practice and stuff. It has not been great.

“To be honest, I always used to have a procedure on my back the week before the French Open. In my prime, clay always caused issues with my back. I didn’t this year [and] it has not been that comfortable.

“I was moving okay, really not feeling that comfortable on the court.

“I am hoping when I get home I will have a procedure on my back and have a few days’ rest and then should be fine.”

Murray had surgery on a “long-standing back problem” back in 2013, shaving off part of a vertebrae, but has still needed to manage the issue ever since.

And having admitted that he is “likely not going to play competitive tennis past this summer”, Murray is preparing for what is probably his last Wimbledon, placing every tiny decision under even greater scrutiny than normal.

He has pulled out of Surbiton, but that was a decision that was always expected to come on Saturday, Murray explained.

“I don’t feel like I am letting the tournament down by that,” he added.

“I was asked to enter the tournament because the LTA want to use the wildcards for guys that need them.

“I said it was unlikely that I was going to play. I want to try and compete at the highest level possible.”

In this case, that will mean heading to Stuttgart in Germany, where he reached the final two years ago and who offered him a wildcard for this year’s edition.

That run two years ago represented one of his best in recent memory, beating Alexander Bublik, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios before defeat to Matteo Berrettini.

“I got some good wins against top players there. Felt like that was the best way to prepare there this year,” Murray said.

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In the next few days, Murray says he will finalise his plans for the grass. He hinted on Friday night that he might play doubles at Wimbledon with his brother Jamie, something they have never done together despite playing three Olympic Games and a Davis Cup final as a team.

“My brother doesn’t have a partner for Wimbledon currently. We have spoken a little bit about it,” added Murray, who has not played a tour-level match with his brother since Washington in 2019.

“So may do that, but not 100 per cent sure yet.

“Obviously Jamie could also get a good partner as well!”

“We’ll see what happens, but we’ll probably decide in the next few days probably.”

He is unlikely to start hitting on grass before Monday, instead choosing to rest for his ailing back before heading to Germany. Much of exactly how much he trains will come down to his long-term physical trainer Matt Little, who has travelled much less in recent years but was present in Paris and will be a key advisor in the coming weeks.

Following Stuttgart, Murray is signed up for tournaments at Queen’s and Eastbourne: the former is a tournament with which he has a long association, having won it five times in singles and once in doubles; the latter though he has only played once before back in 2018 when he was similarly searching for form after his first hip operation.

As such, it seems unlikely he will actually play on the south coast unless he is beaten in the first round in Stuttgart and Queen’s. He has more often preferred to play an exhibition match at the Hurlingham Club in west London.