Andy Murray’s Wimbledon career comes to abrupt end after Emma Raducanu pulls out of match
Andy Murray's time on the courts of Wimbledon appears to be over after his mixed doubles partner Emma Raducanu pulled out.
Murray and Raducanu had been due to play against Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai today (6 July), but Raducanu released a statement saying that she had made the 'very tough decision' not to compete in the mixed doubles.
She said: "Unfortunately I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist this morning, so therefore I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight.
“I’m disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy but got to take care.”
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Raducanu is still competing in the women's singles, and tomorrow has a round of 16 match against Lulu Sun to consider.
Murray, who tomorrow (7 July) will mark 11 years since he became the first Brit in 77 years to win the men's single title at Wimbledon, had made it clear that this would be his last time on the famous grass courts.
He had been hoping to compete in the men's singles for one last time and worked on his recovery, but at the last moment said he wasn't able to play in the singles for this year's tournament.
Andy and his brother Jamie appeared on Centre Court a couple of days ago (4 July) in the men's doubles, but were defeated by Rinky Hijikata and John Peers.
After the match there was a ceremony to honour Murray, who twice won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in addition to picking up a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games at Centre Court.
He described that Olympic win as 'one of my favourite days I’ve ever had' and jokingly said 'they were all right weren’t they' of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic who he competed with for Grand Slam titles.
He said he wanted to 'play forever' but acknowledged that the injuries he'd picked up over his career 'have added up and they haven’t been insignificant'.
In his career Murray won 46 singles titles, including twice being Wimbledon champion and winning the US Open, and three doubles titles.
The Scot was also a vital part of Great Britain's victorious Davis Cup team in 2015, as was his brother Jamie.
Murray will surely understand the decision made by Raducanu, who last year was out for eight months after undergoing surgery on both of her wrists and one of her ankles, as trying to juggle the responsibilities of mixed doubles along with her women's singles campaign would be very difficult.
Throughout his career in tennis Murray has been a staunch supporter of women in the game, and the legendary Serena Williams made note of that in a recent tribute to him.
She said she'd always enjoyed watching him play, joking that he was 'one of the few players who would be more angry than me on the court', adding that he'd always have a place in her heart 'because you always speak out so much for women and everything that women deserve'.
It's truly the end of an era for a great tennis player, and it's been brilliant to watch him all the way through.
Topics: Sport, Wimbledon, Andy Murray, Emma Radacanu
Joe Harker