Andy Murray has withdrawn from his first round match at Wimbledon against Tomas Machac and confirmed he has played his final singles match at the Championships.
Murray, 37, is still in contention for the doubles, where he will play alongside his brother Jamie. However, after undergoing surgery on a spinal cyst on June 22, Andy Murray has not recovered in time to play the singles. He has said he will make a decision on his fitness at the last minute, and while he is due to start his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday against world number 38 Machac, he has withdrawn from the singles tournament. Murray has been replaced in the singles by lucky loser David Goffin from Belgium.
In a statement, Murray’s team said: “Unfortunately, despite the incredibly hard work he has put into his recovery since his surgery just over a week ago, Andy has made the very difficult decision not to play singles this year.
“As you can imagine he is extremely disappointed but has confirmed he will play doubles with Jamie and is looking forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time.”
Murray said last week that he planned to retire after this summer’s Olympics. The ideal scenario was for Murray to play singles at Wimbledon and Paris 2024 but, despite being close to a miraculous recovery, his final act at the grass-court championships will be in doubles.
It will be the first time he has played alongside Jamie at Wimbledon, a venue where he has enjoyed some of his finest moments in the sport. Murray won the singles title in 2013 and 2016 – in addition to his 2012 US Open triumph – and has secured his place among Britain’s top athletes. But he was hoping for one last chance in the singles at SW19.
The three-time Grand Slam winner underwent tests after the French Open this year, which revealed the cyst. At the time it wasn’t a big deal, but by the start of the Queen’s tournament the cyst had grown. He then lost coordination and felt shooting pains in his back and right leg during his second-round match against Jordan Thompson on June 19. He was forced to withdraw and underwent surgery on June 22.
Such surgery typically requires six weeks of recovery, but Murray has made good progress and returned to the court last Wednesday. A day later, he issued a public statement saying he wanted to play at Wimbledon “one more time.”
He will get his wish, but only in doubles, as his recovery is not fast enough for his liking. After Wimbledon, Murray will turn his attention to Paris 2024, where he remains in contention in both singles and doubles. He goes there as a double gold medallist, having won at London 2012 and Rio 2016. If he qualifies for the Olympics, he plans to retire from the sport.
“All the discussions and conversations I’ve had with my team have shown that I’m not going to play beyond this summer,” Murray said last week. “Obviously, I’ve had that conversation with my family and I’ve got a family vacation planned the week after the Olympics.
“I have no intention of going to New York (for the US Open). But I also don’t want the last time I play on a tennis court to be what happened at Queen’s. Again, I know there are more important things in the world than how I finish my last tennis match or where I finish my last tennis match.
“But because of what I’ve put into the sport over the last few years, I’d like to at least play a real game where I’m at least competitive, not what happened at Queen’s.
“I can’t say for sure that if I wasn’t able to play Wimbledon and I wasn’t recovered in time to play the Olympics, I wouldn’t consider playing another tournament somewhere. But if I’m able to play Wimbledon and the Olympics, it’ll probably be over, yes.”
