Andy Murray was hoping to play Wimbledon for the final time this year (Picture: PA)
Andy Murray has confirmed he’ll miss Wimbledon 2024 singles after surgery on a spinal cyst in his back, with the Briton sadly failing to recover in time.
There had been huge speculation over Murray’s participation in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles at this year’s Championships.
He was set to face Tomas Machac in the singles on Tuesday while he and his brother are still due to play Jamie John Peers and Rinky Hijikata in the doubles.
Conflicting reports emerged after Murray was forced to retire from his match against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s Club on June 19 with a back injury.
Before the match, British legend Murray, 37, strongly suggested that he would play Wimbledon singles for the final time this summer before his retirement from tennis and would enter the doubles tournament with Jamie Murray.
But after the match, some areas of the media claimed that Murray’s injury meant that he would be ruled out for six weeks and wouldn’t recover in time for SW19.
Murray’s mother Judy rubbished those reports and his camp were believed to be angered about the leak, putting out a statement that no decision had been made.
Andy Murray could be set to retire at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris (Picture: Getty)
It can now be confirmed that Murray will indeed not be playing in singles at this year’s Championships – which started on July 1 – but he is still set to play in doubles and his first-round match will be played between Wednesday and Friday.
News of Murray missing singles comes as a huge blow to the Wimbledon fans who have been queuing to catch a final glimpse of him since Monday morning.
‘Andy 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,’ a spokesperson said.
Murray has also sat down with Metro.co.uk for an exclusive interview and has urged British fans to throw their support behind Jack Draper.
The British No.1, who is seeded 28th, faces Elias Ymer in the men’s singles first round on Tuesday.
‘He’s a really exciting player to watch and I think he’s got a big future,’ Murray told Metro. ‘Jack’s definitely got the ability to go right to the top of the game. There’s always a lot of pressure on the British players at Wimbledon but hopefully he can do well there.’