Murray timeline: How long will he be out with injury? Will he be fit for Wimbledon?

Murray, 36, almost won the third-round match despite the injury, which saw him hopping in agony in the 10th game of the final set, but was beaten 5-7 7-5 7-6(5).

Murray revealed afterwards that he has suffered a “full rupture of my ATFL [anterior talo-fibular ligament] and near full thickness rupture of my CFL [calcaneofibular ligament]” and is set to see an ankle specialist on his return to the UK.

How long will Murray be out for?

Murray has only said so far that he will miss an “extended period”.

He also declared that he will “be back” – but when, though?

It has been reported by the Times that the recovery time for a ruptured ATFL can take at least six weeks, and could be up to 12.

With the more optimistic timeline of six weeks, if Murray makes good progress then he might be back on court by early May.

However, it seems likely that his ankle injury will scupper his hopes of playing the European clay swing.

Instead, it seems to make more sense that he would focus his attentions on getting ready for the grass swing.

Will Murray be fit for Wimbledon?

If Murray is to step away from tennis after the summer then it has been widely predicted that his final tournament could be Wimbledon or the Olympics.

Murray has won Wimbledon twice and grass remains his favourite surface.

If his ankle recovery goes well, he could start his preparations for Wimbledon by trying to defend his Surbiton and Nottingham titles in early June, before moving on to Queen’s.

Wimbledon starts on July 1 and is followed by the Olympic tennis event at Roland-Garros on July 27.

He could have a better chance of doing that in doubles rather than singles.

Could ankle injury delay Murray’s retirement plans?

Yet while Murray might have looked refreshed over the last week, it appears he is bracing himself to finish his career this summer.

“I am looking forward to the end now,” he said after his defeat to Machac. “Give my best the next few months and get to be at home with my family.”

That was before the severity of his ankle injury was revealed, though.

If Murray’s recovery timeline puts his Wimbledon plans in jeopardy, could he play on beyond the summer?

His run at the Miami Open might have given him some pause for thought.

Fired up Murray defeats Berrettini to progress – Miami Open highlights

He played his best tennis of the year to reach the third round and could have beaten Machac, even though he looked in agony after injuring his ankle.

He was aiming for three-straight wins at Masters 1000 level or above for the first time since 2017 – and looked on track for that until Machac fought back from 5-3 down in the third set tie-breaker.

Despite the loss, Murray was left feeling “pretty positive” with his overall showing in Miami.

“There were some good signs in my game,” said Murray.

“Definitely an improvement on the last few tournaments, not perfect, but considering everything to be winning matches against the players I did and pushing Tomas like I did today, I’m proud of myself because it’s extremely difficult to do what I’m doing with the issue that I have.

“To still be able to compete with these guys is a credit to myself and the work that I’ve done and the effort that I’ve put into this to keep myself in this position.”

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