One member of professional tennis' ‘Big Four' has played his last singles competition at Wimbledon. Andy Murray withdrew from his first-round match against Tomas Machac and confirmed he's played his last singles match at Wimbledon. This comes amid recent retirement talks that started after Murray had a procedure on a spinal cyst earlier this summer.
Murray's team released a statement with the announcement.
“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,” the statement reads, per ESPN's Tom Hamilton. “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.”
Murray made the decision to withdraw at the last minute after he deemed himself not recovered enough from his surgery. He has been replaced in the singles tournament by David Goffin of Belgium.
The three-time Grand Slam-winner recently spoke about his plans to retire following this summer's Olympics.
“All of the discussions and conversations that I've had with my team are that I'm not going to play past this summer,” Murray said last week. “Obviously I've had the conversation with my family, and I have a family holiday booked the week after the Olympics.”
His hope was to play at singles in both Wimbledon and at Paris 2024. Murray will have to settle for playing doubles at Wimbledon.
Andy Murray will get last Wimbledon hurrah with doubles competition
Andy Murray will get one last chance for glory at Wimbledon. He may not be competing in singles, but he has a chance to win the doubles tournament with his brother Jamie.
The Murray brothers have never played with each other at Wimbledon, but they will give it a chance later this week in Andy's final time on the grass.
Wimbledon organizers also released a statement following Murray's singles announcement. They sound ready to give Andy a fitting tribute to his impressive career.
“We are so looking forward to seeing you compete in the doubles and celebrating all the memories you have given us,” tournament organizers said in a post on social media.
Murray sounds sentimental about his time playing tennis too. It means a great deal to him to finish his career on his own terms.
“I know that there’s more important things in the world than how I finish playing my last tennis match or where I finished playing my last tennis match,” he said, per NBC's Patrick Smith.
“But because of what I put into the sport over the last however many years, I would at least like to go out playing a proper match where I’m at least competitive, not what happened at Queen’s.”
Andy Murray has had a storied professional career. He has won 46 singles titles, which includes three Grand Slams, 14 Masters 1000 series, two Olympic Gold Medals, and an ATP Finals title.
We can't wait to see Murray on the court for his final professional moments this summer.
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