Andy Murray has decided not to play in the Wimbledon singles, instead making his farewell to the All England Club in the doubles alongside older brother Jamie.
Murray, who is planning to retire later this year, had surgery 10 days ago on a back issue.
The 37-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, was due to play Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic on Centre Court on Tuesday.
“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.”
Former world number one Murray had a cyst close to his spinal cord removed on Saturday because it was causing nerve pain in his right leg.
The Scot was giving himself as long as possible to be ready to play in what will be his Wimbledon farewell.
Murray had to retire from his match against Australia’s Jordan Thompson at Queen’s on 19 June because of a back issue and underwent an operation.
He returned to the practice courts at Wimbledon at the weekend and wanted to give himself as much time as possible to prove his fitness, only making a final decision to pull out of the singles hours before he was due on court.
The Scot has struggled with injury this year, rupturing his ankle ligaments at the Miami Open in March.
He was able to return seven weeks later, but has been hampered by a back problem exacerbated by playing on clay.
More to follow.
