Two-time champion at The Championships, Andy Murray sensationally pulled out of Wimbledon 24 hours after confirming he was ready to play. The 31-year-old released a statement on Sunday, saying, “It’s with regret I’m withdrawing from Wimbledon. I’ve made significant progress in practice and matches over the last ten days, but after lengthy discussions with my team and with a heavy heart, we’ve decided that playing best of five set matches might be a bit too soon in the recovery process. We did everything we could to try to be ready in time. I will start practising on the hard courts from tomorrow and continuing with my rehab and recovery and I’m looking forward to the US hard court season. Thanks for all the messages of support and I’m excited to finally be back playing after so long out.”
Troubled by a recurring hip problem, it is the third time in four Grand Slams that the British tennis ace has made a late withdrawal. Murray was due to Frenchman Benoit Paire in the first round on Tuesday, but will now not participate in the tournament. The official Wimbledon Twitter page responded to Murray’s statement by posting on social media, writing: “Really sorry to hear the news, @andy_murray. From everyone at the All England Club, we wish you all the best with your journey back from injury.”
Murray finally had surgery on a long-standing hip issue in January 2018, having pulled out of the Australian Open at the 11th hour. He was initially delighted with the post-surgery prognosis and had originally planned to make his comeback at a low-key event at Loughborough University in May. But his recovery progress was halted and he withdrew from the grass court warm-up event in Rosmalen, Holland last month. The Scot played one match at Queen’s and two at Eastbourne and, on the basis of that, had decided to give Wimbledon a shot, until this very late bombshell announcement. Murray’s absence from the practice schedule at the All England Club on Sunday hinted that all might not be well but the news still comes as a surprise given his public confidence that he would play.
Asked in his pre-tournament press conference on Saturday afternoon whether he was confident he would play, Murray replied: “Yeah, unless in the next couple of days I wake up and don’t feel good. “I mean, through all of this, I have to view it very much day by day, just as a process. I’m practicing at a high level, a high intensity every day with some of the best players in the world. That’s really positive for me as part of getting better, to compete again.”
