LONDRES.- Andy Murray retired from singles matches in Wimbledona week after undergoing surgery to remove a cyst from his spine, and his representatives said Tuesday that the two-time All England Club champion would bid farewell to the tournament by playing doubles with his brother.
The 37-year-old, who plans to retire after the Paris Olympics later this month, was due to face Tomas Machac on Centre Court on Tuesday in the first round of singles. He was replaced in the draw by David Goffin, who lost in qualifying last week.
“I just want to get the chance to play one more time, hopefully on Centre Court, and … feel that energy,” Murray said Sunday. “I wasn’t planning on last year being my last year on tour. I wanted to get back out there. I don’t have that plan this year. I’m coming to the end of my career.”
Murray won Wimbledon in 2013, becoming the first British men’s singles champion at the tournament in 77 years, and again in 2016, for which he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
He captured the 2012 US Open title, rose to the top of the ATP rankings and is the only player with back-to-back Olympic singles gold medals. Those Olympic medals came in London in 2012 — when the tournament was held at the All England Club — and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Bye in the first round:
Marketa Vondrousova became the first defending Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the following year since 1994, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Centre Court on Tuesday.
Vondrousova stunned by claiming the All England Club title 12 months ago — the first unseeded woman to lift the Grand Slam trophy on grass. Now the Czech is entering the history books in another, less-than-desirable way.
“I was happy to be back on Centre Court,” Vondrousova said. “It just didn’t go as planned today.”
Source: AP
