John McEnroe wants Wimbledon to put up a statue of Andy Murray as recognition of his achievements at SW19.

Murray became the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years when he beat Novak Djokovic in 2013, before adding a second grass-court major three years later.

Six legends of the game, including Fred Perry and Virginia Wade, already have likenesses around the grounds in south-west London and McEnroe believes it would only be fitting for Murray to join them.

“If I was making that decision, I would say absolutely, yes, because that’s a long drought, 77 years,” said McEnroe, who will reprise his role as commentator and pundit for the BBC this year.

“He’s absolutely changed the way people look at British tennis. He’s one of the greatest competitors that I’ve ever seen play tennis.

“It would be well deserved, and it’d be awesome, because two of his three grand slam wins were at Wimbledon plus the Olympics. So that would seem to make a whole lot of sense.”

In 2019, then-chief executive of the All England Club Richard Lewis said he was “sure something like that” would be put up at Wimbledon, but insisted it would not happen until after Murray retired.

Those comments came just days a tearful admission in Australia that he was probably about to play his last grand slam and retirement at the age of 31 was upon him.

But Murray has since had a second hip operation and made it back into the top 40 last year, only for a loss of form and a persistent back problem that culminated in another operation on Saturday to blight his planned farewell.

i understands the three-time major champion still wants to say goodbye on court at Wimbledon this summer, but may be reduced to only playing the doubles tournament with his brother, Jamie.

If he can get fit though, McEnroe does believe he can have “one last dance”, even if victory overall is unlikely.

“I could see him getting into the second week,” McEnroe added.

“This guy knows how to play on any surface but he certainly knows how to play on grass better than almost anyone that’s played.

“He’ll use all that experience but obviously a fair amount of it is going to depend on the draw and see who he’s got early on.

“Maybe he’ll be able to get the right schedule so that he could get the proper rest. But that would be a big ask, but it’d be a hell of a way to go out.

“It would be cool if he got a couple of breaks because he certainly been on the short end of the stick for too long with all the injuries.”