British veteran Andy Murray has confirmed on Tuesday that he will not compete in the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships, but is still planning to compete in the doubles.
Andy Murray of Britain hits a return during the men's singles first round match against Corentin Moutet of France at the 2023 US Open tennis championships in New York, the United States, Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
David Goffin of Belgium will replace Murray to play against Czech player Tomas Machac at the All England Club Tuesday evening.
37-year-old Murray underwent a surgery to deal with a back injury a few days ago, but was hoping to play his last Wimbledon Championships as he will probably retire later this 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 statement from Murray's team read.
"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."
The three-time Grand Slam champion and his elder brother Jamie Murray have been allocated a wild card for this year's doubles event at Wimbledon.
As the 2012 and 2016 singles Olympic champion, Murray will make his fifth Olympic appearance at Paris this summer.