Andy Murray has played his last singles match at Wimbledon.
I want to go out there and be able to play to a level that I’m happy with. I don’t want to be in a situation like at Queen’s. I don’t want to go on the court and it to be awkward or not be able to at least be competitive Andy Murray
But the 37-year-old two-time champion, the first Brit in 77 years to win the men’s event, confirmed he will join brother Jamie in the doubles of this year’s renewal of the tournament which made his name.
The Scot, who is expected to retire this summer, made the “very difficult decision” to pull out hours ahead of his scheduled first-round match with Czech Tomas Machac on Tuesday. It was an encounter which had been scheduled for Centre Court a few hours later.
The Murray team stated: “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.
“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.”
The former world No.1 underwent an operation to remove a cyst on his spinal cord just over a week ago. And left it as late as possible to play so he could “feel that buzz” of singles combat at The Championships one last time. But the Brit, 37, has accepted he would not be able to compete at the level he needed to compete at against Machac.
Murray, replaced in the singles draw by lucky loser David Goffin of Belgium, said to the media on Sunday: “I want to go out there and be able to play to a level that I’m happy with. I don’t want to be in a situation like at Queen’s. I don’t want to go on the court and it to be awkward or not be able to at least be competitive.”
There were also health considerations as he had revealed there was a “small risk” of re-opening a wound from his latest operation. A risk he had been prepared to take. Murray had said: “If I was worried about doing more damage to my spine or something like that, yeah, that would be very different, But I’m OK with a few stitches coming loose or whatever.”
It was against world No. 38 Machac, that Murray ruptured ankle ligaments in Miami in March. It put him out for two months. And his back problem forced him to visit a surgeon just over a week ago after it caused him to retire against Jordan Thompson from Australia in the second round at Queen’s.
Three-time Slam winner Murray has played with a metal hip after being struck down by a problem with the joint while top of the rankings in 2017. He has been scheduled to play the Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics to bring down the curtain on his glittering career. He is the only player to retain a Games crown in the men’s singles.
