Andy Murray has decided not to play in the Wimbledon singles, instead making his farewell to the All England Club in the doubles alongside older brother Jamie.
Murray, who is planning to retire later this year, had surgery 10 days ago on a back issue.
The 37-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, was due to play Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic on Centre Court on Tuesday.
“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 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.”
Former world number one Murray had a cyst close to his spinal cord removed on Saturday because it was causing nerve pain in his right leg.
How Murray’s latest fitness issue unfolded
Murray has been giving himself as long as possible to be ready to play in what will be an emotional goodbye at the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, having also won Olympic gold on Centre Court at London 2012.
The Scot’s plans have been disrupted by the back issue which flared up earlier this summer and forced him to retire from his match at Queen’s against Australia’s Jordan Thompson on 19 June after only five games.
But he has fought to be fit because he wants a bit of “closure” at the All England Club before stopping playing professionally.
On Sunday, Murray said the area where he had the operation was not sore, but added he still did not have 100% feeling in his leg.
He trained with former British number one Kyle Edmund for more than an hour on Monday, leading 6-3 2-0 in a practice match before they stopped.
Afterwards, Murray said he would make a decision later that evening and announced on Tuesday morning – several hours before he was due to face Machac – that he would focus on the doubles.
The Murray brothers have never played together at the Championships.
Andy and 38-year-old Jamie represented Great Britain in doubles at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the All England Club, when they lost in the first round.
What next for Murray?
Having initially feared he would have to retire in 2019 because of hip surgery, Murray returned to the tour later this year.
But the injury issues have continued and the three-time major champion said earlier this year that he did not plan to “play much past the summer”.
Murray, who also won gold at the Rio 2016 Games, said last month that retiring at Wimbledon or the Olympics would be “fitting”, given his success in both events.
He has been selected to play for Great Britain in the Paris Games next month.
The tennis event starts on 27 July on the clay courts at Roland Garros.
Source: BBC