Andy Murray revealed he wants “a bit of closure” and feel “the buzz” of Wimbledon a final time as he battles to get fit to play in the singles.
The Scot, 37, said he will wait until after training on Monday to decide whether to play Tomas Machac in the opening round. He could, though, wait until the last minute on Tuesday.
The three-time Major champion only underwent spinal surgery last Saturday but returned to the court last week.
He said there was a risk of the wound from keyhole surgery reopening but added: “I’m okay with a few stitches coming loose or whatever.”
Murray also has a wildcard into the men’s doubles to play with his brother Jamie.
Asked what he wanted to achieve by playing one final time at his home Grand Slam, Murray fought back tears to declare: “The opportunity to play here again. I mean, for the last time, yeah, that’s kind of it. Like, this is a place that’s obviously been really good to me over the years.
“Yeah, I guess the last few years you’ve had, I don’t know, like Serena [Williams] finished playing, Roger [Federer] finished playing, and Rafa [Nadal] obviously has spoken a lot recently about the struggles he’s gone through.
“Yeah, everyone has their idea of how they want to finish their career, how they would want it to go.
“My idea of that would be, I probably would have seen that happening probably at Wimbledon. Obviously I have the Olympics coming up. But, yeah, I would love the opportunity to play here one more time.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m looking to get out of it. Whether afterwards I feel like that’s the right thing to do, it was the right thing to do or not, I don’t know. But right now I feel like I want that opportunity.
“I’m hoping for, when it comes to the end, I don’t know, maybe a bit of closure. Yeah, I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there hopefully on Centre Court, and I don’t know, feel that buzz.
“Like last year, I wasn’t planning on it being my last year on the tour. I wanted to come back and play again, whereas this year I have no plans to do that. Yeah, it’s coming to the end of my career and I want to have that opportunity to play here again.”
Murray’s practice session at Aorangi Park was interrupted by rain yesterday and he then hit indoors.
He reported: “It’s been obviously a tough 10 days or so since Queen’s. Obviously had, yeah, the operation on the back, which wasn’t insignificant. Yeah, just been trying to do everything that I can to try and get ready to start the tournament here.
“I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. I’ve been practising for the last few days. I played a set today. It went pretty well, but I still don’t have 100 per cent sort of feeling and sensation in my leg yet.
“It’s getting better every single day. Like I said a few days ago, I want to give it every single chance that I can to get there.
“I’m going to play another set again tomorrow. I’m doing some physical testing in the morning to see sort of how far off I am from a physical perspective. Then I will probably make a decision tomorrow evening after that.”
