Wimbledon chief Sally Bolton acknowledges plans for Andy Murray statue following retirement

Wimbledon Chief Sally Bolton recognizes plans for a statue of Andy Murray following his retirement. The three-time Grand Slam champion had his final participation at Wimbledon in this year's doubles draw alongside his brother Jamie, where he received a tribute on Centre Court after the match.

Unfortunately, an injury Murray sustained a few weeks earlier prevented him from being fit enough to compete in the singles draw. There were expectations for him to appear in the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, but the 2021 US Open champion withdrew a few hours before their match due to wrist pain while preparing for her fourth-round encounter.

With the career of one of the best tennis players of the 21st century coming to an end, the All England Club plans to extend the tribute to Murray: "Our plans for celebrating Andy's career are wider than what we decided to do on court. We have talked before about a statue in the grounds," Sally Bolton said.

"I think our view is a lot of those parts of a lasting tribute actually we would want to engage with Andy on what that looked like. I don't think there is a rush to do those things, it's about getting it right. The plan there is to work with Andy," she added.

This week, several people have already advocated for the idea of a statue for Murray at SW19. Billie Jean King and Boris Becker mentioned on social media that Sir Andy deserves a recognition of that level, having become a legend to the local audience as the first Briton to win the title in 77 years.

Novak Djokovic took a break in his schedule to participate in the Centre Court tribute to one of his greatest rivals. The 24-time Grand Slam champion expressed his best wishes to Murray: "I do wish him all the best in his farewell. But I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to come back again. He's an incredible competitor,” the world No. 2 said. "Resilience that you can definitely study and teach young athletes,” Djokovic added.

When asked about Djokovic's remarks, Murray said: "Yeah, I mean, I could definitely still win matches here on the grass once I'm recovered from the back injury. But I don't want to do that now,” the former world No. 1 said. "Yeah, I know I could do it, but I have no plans to play singles again."

Chief executive Sally Bolton mentioned: "Look, I have no idea what Andy is talking to Novak about - all I would say is clearly he is one of the greatest champions that the Championships has seen. Of course fans would love to see Andy back - but clearly that is a decision for Andy."