Andy Murray’s retirement announcement, breaking down in tears and Wimbledon statement

Andy Murray’s withdrawal from Wimbledon came five years after the Brit planned to end his career at the historic Grand Slam.

The tennis icon revealed on Tuesday that he won’t be competing in singles at the All England Club after failing to regain fitness following spinal cyst surgery, having been drawn to face Tomas Machac in the first round.

Despite his withdrawal, the 37-year-old will compete in the doubles with his brother Jamie in what is likely to be his last appearance at Wimbledon with Murray planning to retire from tennis after the Paris Olympics – should he be fit to participate in it.

A statement from his team read: “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. As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed but has confirmed that he will be playing in the doubles with Jamie.”

 

Murray’s suffered numerous hip and back injuries in the last few years, which saw him almost succumb to the troubles over five years ago when he broke down in tears when revealing his plan to end his illustrious career at Wimbledon in 2019.

During a press conference before the Australian Open, the Scotsman said: “I’ve pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and it hasn’t helped loads. I’m in a better place than I was six months ago but still in a lot of pain. It’s been tough”.

It was last Saturday when Murray discussed the significance of ending his career at Wimbledon, where he etched his name in tennis history with his two championships. “The opportunity to play here again for the last time, that’s kind of it. This is a place that’s obviously been really good to me over the years,” he said.

“My idea would have seen that happening probably at Wimbledon. Obviously I have the Olympics coming up. But I would love the opportunity to play here one more time. That’s what I’m looking to get out of it.

“I’m hoping for, when it comes to the end, maybe a bit of closure. I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there hopefully on Centre Court and feel that buzz. Whether afterwards I feel it was the right thing to do or not, I don’t know. But right now I feel like I want that opportunity.”