Andy Murray takes 'very difficult' Wimbledon decision: Full statement, doubles plans, tribute ceremony hint

Andy Murray has withdrawn from the men's singles at this year's Wimbledon after the Scot waited until the very last minute to prove his fitness for his first-round match against Tomas Machac.

The two-times Wimbledon champion underwent back surgery ten days ago on a spinal cyst and had hoped to recover in time to take on the World No 36 on Tuesday evening on Centre Court. However, despite playing practice sets on Sunday and Monday at the All England Club, the 37-year-old has admitted defeat in his race to be fit.

Machac will now play lucky loser David Goffin, with the match moved to Court 17. British No 1 Jack Draper will now play Elias Ymer on Centre Court after the men's singles match between Vit Kopriva and Novak Djokovic.

Murray plans to retire at the end of the summer and is now extremely unlikely to play singles again at a venue that has been the scene of some of his greatest moments in tennis. He won the Wimbledon title in 2013 and 2016, and also claimed the Olympic gold medal at SW19 in 2012. His last singles match on Centre Court was last year's five-set epic defeat by Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Murray still plans to play men’s doubles with his brother Jamie Murray, and their first-round match against Australian duo John Peers and Rinky Hijikata will take place later this week.

Andy Murray will not play singles this year at Wimbledon. | Getty Images

A statement from Murray's camp 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 and looks forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time."

Murray still hopes to play at the Olympics later this month for Team GB, which is his last planned appearance as a professional tennis player. He is entered for the singles and men's doubles alongside Dan Evans. His last singles victory on British soil was in his 1000th ATP tour match, defeating Alexei Popyrin at Queen's in June.

It remains to be seen what Wimbledon will do as a farewell for Murray, who is set for emotional appearance on Centre Court when he plays with his brother in the doubles.

Speaking earlier in the week, Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton said: “We have got a variety of plans sitting waiting to deliver,” she said. “It really is for Andy to make that call and we’ll be ready whenever that happens. There’s been various conversations ongoing for some time now. Andy of course is very focused on his performance, not really on anything else.

Andy Murray and Jamie Murray still plan on playing doubles together at Wimbledon. | Getty Images for Battle of the B

“Once he decides to retire and we all get the chance to celebrate him I think you’ll really see how much he has meant to not just the tennis-loving public but the sports-loving public in the UK. I think there’ll be tears around the house.”

Bolton hinted that the 37-year-old will join Fred Perry in having a statue somewhere in the grounds once his playing career is over, but that may not be outside Centre Court.

“You could argue that’s a bit of an obvious location,” she said. “As we reflect on the shape of these grounds and we think about the potential development over the road, we’ve got time to think about where any kind of physical celebration of Andy’s career might be.

“And, in any event, we’d want to work with Andy on that and he understandably is not ready to have those conversations just yet. We will make sure we get this right because this is for all time.”

Andy Murray tribute: I've covered you for 20 years and tennis without you seems unthinkable