Andy Murray has withdrawn from singles competition at Wimbledon and said he will still compete in the tournament, but only in doubles with his brother, Jamie.
The 37-year-old had a cyst removed from his spine on June 22 and does not feel fully recovered enough to take part in the singles bracket. Murray has stated that he plans to retire following this month’s Paris Olympics, so this will be his final time at Wimbledon.
Murray, who will be replaced by Belgium’s David Goffin, was set to face Tomas Machac of Czechia at Centre Court on Tuesday in the first round.
“Unfortunately, despite working incredibly hard on his recovery since his operation just over a week ago, Andy has taken the very difficult decision not to play the singles this year,” Murray’s team said in a statement. “As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed but has confirmed that he will be playing in the doubles with Jamie and looks forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time.”
Andy Murray, a two-time Wimbledon winner to go along with his 2012 U.S. Open title, discovered the cyst after this year’s French Open. Over time, it had grown and affected his coordination and caused pains in his back and right leg. The pain caused him to withdraw from the grass-court tournament at Queen’s Club in London on June 19. The cyst was removed three days later.
On Sunday, Murray spoke of his dream farewell to the All-England Club.
“I’m hoping for, when it comes to the end, maybe a bit of closure. I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there, hopefully on Centre Court, and … feel that buzz,” Murray said. “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. It’s coming to the end of my career.”
Murray is still eyeing both the singles and doubles competition at this summer’s Olympics. He won gold medals at the 2012 Games in London, as well as Rio 2016. He will be monitoring his health between the time he’s done at Wimbledon and when it’s time to prepare for Paris as he plans to say goodbye..
“I can’t say for sure that if I wasn’t able to play at Wimbledon, and I didn’t recover in time to play at the Olympics that I wouldn’t consider trying to play another tournament somewhere,” Murray said Sunday. “But if I’m able to play at Wimbledon and if I’m able to play at the Olympics, that’s most likely going to be it, yeah.”
Jamie Murray, 38, is a two-time Grand Slam doubles winner. In 2016, he won both the Australian and U.S. Opens with playing partner Bruno Soares.
