The curtain has fallen on Andy Murray’s singles career at Wimbledon.
The 37-year-old, twice a champion at the All England Club, withdrew from his opening match against Tomas Machac on Tuesday evening after his hopes of recovering from back surgery in time for an emotional farewell campaign were dashed.
Murray’s Wimbledon swansong will now come alongside his older brother, Jamie, in the men’s doubles, which begins on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old, who plans to retire after the Paris Olympics later this month, went under the knife 10 days ago to have a spinal cyst removed. The operation followed his withdrawal at Queen’s Club, where pain in his back and a loss of strength and co-ordination in his right leg forced Murray to abandon his last-16 match against Jordan Thompson.
Murray was determined to give himself as long as possible to recover, and on Monday night he pushed back his original self-imposed deadline for a decision about his participation to Tuesday morning. In the end, though, the timeframe was simply too tight to bounce back from a procedure that normally requires a six-week recuperation period.
“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 management 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.”
For a player whose defining moments have come on Centre Court, it will come as a devastating blow that his body has once again let him down at the worst possible time. Yet it is precisely because he has enjoyed such highs that Murray would not have wished to simply go through the motions against Machac, by whom he was beaten in a final-set tiebreak just over three months ago in Miami after rupturing ankle ligaments. The goal was always to be fit and competitive, but footage of the Scot’s practice sessions suggested he was struggling to move freely, the numbness in his right leg yet to dissipate.
Murray won his first major title at the All England Club in the 2012 Olympics, avenging a loss to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final a month earlier, and the following summer he ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion in SW19 with a straight-sets victory over Novak Djokovic. Murray won his second Wimbledon title in 2016, but the following year his title defence was derailed by a hip injury that twice required surgery. He has played with a metal hip since undergoing the second of those procedures in January 2019.
Murray’s place in the draw will now be taken by David Goffin of Belgium, who was beaten in the final round of qualifying but gets in as a lucky loser. The 33-year-old will face Machac on Court 17, with Britain’s Jack Draper, the 28th seed, now playing his opener against Sweden’s Elias Ymer on Centre Court, in what will feel like a symbolic passing of the torch.