Andy Murray has withdrawn from the Wimbledon men’s singles, instead making a potential farewell to the All-England Club by playing with his brother, Jamie, in the doubles. Both brothers will play together for the first time at this event and will play their first-round match later this week.
On Tuesday, the 37-year-old former Wimbledon Champion was scheduled to play Czech youngster Tomas Machac on Centre Court.
Murray had a cyst close to his spinal cord removed on Saturday because it was causing nerve pain in his right leg.
“Unfortunately, despite working incredibly hard on his recovery since his operation just over a week ago, Andy has taken the tough decision not to play the singles this year,” Murray’s team said.
“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.”
Plagued by a persistent back problem, Murray intentionally planned his schedule to allow him to play on Centre Court, the scene of two of his Wimbledon titles and an Olympic gold in 2012.
However, he disclosed that while the area where he had the procedure was not sore, his leg wasn’t still 100%.
After training with former British number one Kyle Edmund on Monday, he announced on Tuesday that he would withdraw just hours before his first-round encounter against Machac.
Murray said on Sunday that it was likely that he would not be able to compete, but he pondered it for some time before yielding to the rational voice in his head, which had told him a competitive five-set singles match was impractical after his recent spinal surgery.