British veteran Andy Murray has decided to withdraw from the singles competition at Wimbledon, the third of the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, but will remain in the doubles competition, where he plays alongside his brother Jamie, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by his management team.
The 37-year-old, who won the Wimbledon title in 2013 and 2016 and the US Open in 2012, was due to face Czech Tomas Makhach in the first round on Tuesday but made the “very difficult decision” to withdraw after not fully recovering from back surgery.
“Unfortunately, despite working tirelessly to recover since undergoing surgery just over a week ago, Andy has made the very difficult decision to not play singles this year,” the statement said.
“As you can imagine, he is very disappointed but he has confirmed that he will play doubles with Jamie and is looking forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time,” he added.
Murray was aiming for a farewell appearance at the Grand Slam, but will now settle for playing doubles alongside his brother Jamie.
Murray withdrew last month from his second-round match against Australia’s Jordan Thompson at the Queen’s Club tournament.
The former world number one, who plays with a metal hip prosthesis fitted in early 2019, struggled from the start of his match against Thompson and said afterwards he felt weakness in his right leg and was losing coordination.
He only returned to competition last May after nearly two months out with an ankle injury.
Murray seeks to end his career by participating in the Paris Olympics, which will start on the 26th of this month, with the hope of adding a medal to the two gold medals he won in singles in 2012 and 2016.
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