Wimbledon: Andy Murray withdraws from singles but plans to play doubles

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Andy Murray has withdrawn from the men's singles event at Wimbledon. It means the two-time champion and former world number one will be unable to take part in what was set to be a farewell singles appearance at the All England Club.

However, he will still take to the courts, but instead in the doubles, as he plans to play alongside his brother Jamie.

Murray has been struggling with a back problem and has failed to recover from minor surgery in time to feature in the singles draw. The 37-year-old had been set to face Tomas Machac on Centre Court on Tuesday (July 2).

However, his team confirmed in a statement that Murray, who is planning to retire this year, would not play.

"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 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."

Winning the tournament in 2013 and 2016, Murray (2012-13, 2016) is the only British player to reach the final at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

The Scot has played 74 matches at Wimbledon; it is the fifth-most matches played in the men's singles draw at this tournament during the Open Era.

His 61 wins, meanwhile, are the sixth-most of any man after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Jimmy Connors, Becker and Pete Sampras.