Plan to retire at Olympics, doing everything possible to make Wimbledon – Andy Murray

Andy Murray says he is doing everything within his power to make it to Wimbledon this year – and has confirmed for the first time that it is his intention to retire at the Olympic Games this summer.

However, if he is not able to play in Paris, he will play at an event after that and conclude his stellar career there.

The 37-year-old retired from his match against Jordan Thompson at the cinch Championships last week due to his back problems but has said he will be in the Wimbledon draw when it takes place on Friday.

“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,” Murray told the UK press. “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.

“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. 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.”

Murray: I deserve to play at Wimbledon again

Murray has recently undergone surgery on a spinal cyst and his participation at SW19 is currently uncertain. He now suggests that it will be tough to be ready to compete in singles, although he will make his decision at the very last minute – but he is hoping to be able to play doubles with brother Jamie.

“The rate that I’m improving just now, if that was to continue then an extra 72 to 96 hours makes a huge difference,” said Murray on Thursday. “It’s complicated, and it’s made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time. I want to have that opportunity to play the tournament and I know that some people might look at that and say, withdrawing from a tournament late at the last minute or something like that isn’t the right thing to do, even though it happens every single week on the tour…I feel like I deserve the opportunity to try to play there again.

“And I want to have that opportunity, so I’m going to give it as long as I can to see how well I recover.” 

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