Andy Murray ends singles career to prioritise Olympic doubles for Team GB

Andy Murray’s singles career came to an end on Thursday as he withdrew from the Olympics tennis men’s singles draw in order to focus on competing in doubles alongside Dan Evans.

“I’ve taken the decision to withdraw from the singles to concentrate on the doubles with Dan. Our practice has been great and we’re playing well together. Really looking forward to getting started and representing GB one more time,” Murray said in a statement.

The announcement comes as no surprise after Murray indicated on Wednesday that he was unlikely to compete in the singles draw. Since he decided to compete at the Olympics, the Briton had always planned to prioritise doubles in some form as he believes that he has a much greater chance of winning matches and going deep in the draw.

His decision was even more straightforward due the back injury he suffered during the grass season; Murray’s retirement while trailing 1-4 his second round match at Queen’s against Jordan Thompson will be his final singles match.

Shortly after his withdrawal, Murray underwent back surgery to remove a spinal cyst and he rushed back in time to compete at Wimbledon in the men’s doubles competition alongside his brother. With two more weeks of recovery and preparation, Murray said he is feeling much better but still not strong enough to risk injury by competing in singles and doubles on the same day.

“Since we’ve been here, we’ve been practicing and playing doubles sets together,” Murray said on Wednesday. “That gives the team and us the best opportunity to win a medal, realistically. And yeah, my back is still not perfect and the potential of playing two matches in the day is maybe not the best.”

The last few months of Murray’s career have been dominated by injury, with the 37-year-old tearing ankle ligaments during the Miami Open in March before suffering the back injury soon after his return. In the final tournament week of his career, though, the Scot is choosing to remain optimistic about the final stretch of his career.

“In some ways, the last few months have been really frustrating,” he said. “After what happened in Miami with my ankle and then what’s happened with my back; yeah, it is extremely frustrating. But I also was told when I had the scan on my back after Queen’s that I wouldn’t play at Wimbledon and I wouldn’t play at the Olympics either. I got the opportunity to play at Wimbledon and physically, judging by how we’ve been doing in our practices, more than capable of competing and doing very well in the doubles. In some ways, you could say it was lucky.”