Wimbledon 2018: Andy Murray has no regrets over decision to pull out and confident of returning to the summit

The former world No 1 was confident of eventually returning to full fitness and being competitive against the world’s best players again

Andy Murray insisted that he had “really wanted to play” at Wimbledon this week but said on Sunday night that he had no regrets about his decision to pull out just 18 hours before the first balls were due to be struck at the tournament.

The former world No 1 was confident of eventually returning to full fitness and being competitive against the world’s best players again and felt that withdrawing from Wimbledon was in his best long-term interests.

“If I can get myself fit and healthy I believe that my tennis will get there and it won’t take that long to get back,” Murray said.

“If I was thinking I would not play Wimbledon again, it would be a different decision to make and obviously I would be out there and just playing to enjoy it and potentially play my last Wimbledon. But I want to play for a couple more years and hopefully be back competing at the top of the game. I need to bear that in mind when I am making decisions right now.”

Murray returned to competition less than a fortnight ago after an 11-month absence because of a hip injury, for which he had surgery in January. Although he had appeared to cope well physically – he played one match at Queen’s Club a fortnight ago and two at Eastbourne last week - he decided that he was not up to playing matches over the best of five sets.

After limping out of Wimbledon last summer, he has now made a late withdrawal from three of the last four Grand Slam tournaments. In August he pulled out of the US Open two days before the start, in January he withdrew from the Australian Open after flying Down Under to prepare for the tournament and he has now pulled out of his home Grand Slam event two days after the draw. His place goes to Taiwan’s Jason Jung, a “lucky loser” from last week’s qualifying tournament.

Murray said he had decided to pull out following discussions with his coaching entourage and his doctor. “I was just sort of feeling that I was not ready and willing to play,” Murray said. “I didn’t know how I was going to respond to playing five-set matches. I went through a similar situation last year when I went into Wimbledon. I didn’t feel good before Wimbledon last year but decided to play. I know how that ended up.

“There was a bit of that in the back of my mind as well. I was thinking: ‘Let’s sure make sure I don’t make a mistake. I’ve made progress in the last month, which hadn’t really been the case for the last 10 or 11 months. I was going in the right direction. I would be putting myself in a situation that I haven’t been able to replicate in training or in practice recently.’ That was a maybe a bit unnecessary to do that at this stage.”

Murray said he had not had any setbacks in training and had felt happy with his three comeback matches but was aware also that he had felt sore after his first match against Nick Kyrgios at Queen’s, which had lasted more than two and a half hours.

Andy Murray has pulled out of Wimbledon (AFP/Getty Images)

“There was a bit of that in the back of my mind, thinking: ‘If I played a five-set match and it was four hours, how am I going to feel?’ Nobody can guarantee that I’m going to wake up and feel great. What I didn’t want to do was to start the tournament, potentially win my first match, and then withdraw because I didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel that was the right thing to do, either.”

Murray said the fact that he hadn’t felt particularly nervous or excited in preparing for Wimbledon had told its own story.

Murray explained that he was at ease with his decision (PA)

“I didn’t feel I was going to do extremely well in the tournament,” he said. “There were just so many unknowns. It’s a very, very different mentality going into the event. They were all signs that it was maybe not the right thing to do.”

He added: “It’s been hard because I really wanted to play. Once you get back on the match court, you don’t want to be taking what feels like a bit of a step back in some ways. It’s also a positive in lots of ways that I got through the last couple of weeks.”

Murray said he felt at ease with his decision. “I’m not second-guessing it and thinking: should I have played, should I have gone out there and see how it felt?I feel comfortable with the decision because it is the right one for me at this stage.”

The Scot said he had no doubts that he would play at Wimbledon in future and believes he can be competitive again with the best players in the world, though he would be careful with his scheduling and would not go chasing ranking points like he did when he became world No 1 at the end of 2016.

“I will be making sure when I am training that I am not putting lots of load through my body,” he said. “I will be working hard but not killing my body in training blocks either. Providing I am smart with those things, I believe I will be able to compete.

“I feel there is still a lot more progress I can make physically from where I was before and during Queen’s in the last few weeks. I feel like I competed well against some of the best players in the world after a year out of not playing and also very little practice going in.”

Murray said he did not regret anything about his attempts in recent weeks to regain fitness. “I view the last couple of weeks very positively,” he said. “I’ve practised as much as I could, I’ve trained as much as I was allowed, done what I’ve been told by my team and the medical professionals around me.”

The former world No 1 will now focus on preparing for the American hard-court season. He has already entered the Washington tournament, which starts in four weeks’ time, and said he would start practising on hard courts on Monday, on the same day that Wimbledon starts.