Andy Murray will not play singles at Wimbledon this year - in what will be his last time competing in the major tournament.
The two-time Wimbledon winner has pulled out of the competition ahead of his scheduled first-round match on Tuesday. Murray was set to face Tomas Machac this afternoon.
The Scotsman trained in the last few days in a bid to be fit for the tournament after undergoing surgery to remove a spinal cyst.
Discussing his training session on Monday, Murray said: “It was alright, yeah.
“It was good. I am going to have a chat with my team now and speak to my family this evening and then make a decision.”
However, in a statement on Tuesday morning, the Murray team confirmed the Scot would not participate.
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A statement reads: "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 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."
Chief executive Sally Bolton said earlier this week: “We’ve always got plenty of scheduling challenges to face. As he said himself, Andy has earned the right to make the decision and we will absolutely respect that.
“All of us have therefore got to be agile in the way that we deliver our plans, but we’re really happy to do that. It’s very much for Andy to make this decision and make it at the right time for him.”
“We have got a variety of plans sitting waiting to deliver,” she said. “It really is for Andy to make that call and we’ll be ready whenever that happens. There’s been various conversations ongoing for some time now. Andy of course is very focused on his performance, not really on anything else.
“Once he decides to retire and we all get the chance to celebrate him I think you’ll really see how much he has meant to not just the tennis-loving public but the sports-loving public in the UK. I think there’ll be tears around the house.”
MORE TO FOLLOW.
