Andy Murray has withdrawn from Wimbledon singles competition but said he will still play in the tournament, but only in doubles with his brother Jamie.
The 37-year-old Murray had a cyst removed from his spine on June 22 but does not feel fully recovered enough to play singles. Murray has said he plans to retire after this month’s Paris Olympics, making this his final appearance at Wimbledon.
Murray, who replaces Belgium’s David Goffin, was due to face Czech Tomás Maciak in the first round on Centre Court on Tuesday.
“Sadly, despite having undergone surgery just over a week ago and working hard to recover, Andy has made the very difficult decision to not play in singles this year,” Murray’s team said in a statement. “As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed but has committed to playing doubles with Jamie and looks forward to competing one last time at Wimbledon.”
Andy Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion in addition to winning the U.S. Open in 2012, discovered the cyst after this year’s French Open. Over time, the cyst grew larger, affecting his athletic ability and causing pain in his back and right leg. The pain caused him to withdraw from the grass-court tournament at Queens Club in London on June 19. The cyst was removed three days later.
On Sunday, Murray spoke about his dream farewell to the All England Club.
“Hopefully when it’s the end I can have a little bit of closure and I just want to play one more time, hopefully on Centre Court, and feel that excitement,” Murray said. “Last year wasn’t meant to be my last year on tour. I wanted to come back and play, but that’s not going to happen this year. I’m coming to the end of my career.”
Murray still has his eye on this summer’s Olympics in both singles and doubles, where he won gold medals in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. He plans to monitor his health as he takes a break after Wimbledon before preparing for the Paris tournament.
“If I couldn’t play Wimbledon and I couldn’t recover in time for the Olympics, I can’t say for sure I wouldn’t consider playing another tournament somewhere,” Murray said Sunday. “But if I can play Wimbledon and I can play the Olympics, then that’s probably it.”
Jamie Murray, 38, is a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, winning both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open with playing partner Bruno Soares in 2016.
