Andy Murray will not play in the gentlemen’s singles at Wimbledon this year, failing to recover from spinal cyst surgery in time to take his place in the draw today.
However the two-time Wimbledon champion will be playing doubles alongside his brother at the SW19 showpiece.
The Scot has already told fans that this will be his last Wimbledon tournament, with retirement on the way at the end of the year.
“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,” a spokesman said this morning.
“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.”
Earlier this week Andy Murray told reporters that “it’s getting better and the testing I’ve done has been good. I just need to decide whether it’s enough to compete.”
He played a lengthy practice match yesterday and had been hoping to step out on court in the singles just nine days after the surgery.
The decision to play doubles means that fans will have the chance to say goodbye to Britain’s most successful tennis player of the modern era later in the tournament.
Yesterday’s first day at Wimbledon saw last year’s gentlemen’s winner Carlos Alcaraz battle past Mark Lajal on centre court in the tournament opener.
And Emma Raducanu overcame a slow start to win her own first round match, also on Wimbledon’s centre court.
Other Brits including Jack Draper and Katie Boulter start their tournaments today.