Andy Murray has played his last match at Wimbledon.
The 37-year-old, who has been ranked world number 1 for a total of 41 weeks during his career, pulled out of the men's singles, just days before the start of this summer's competition.
Murray underwent back surgery and did not recover in time to compete but vowed to feature alongside his brother Jamie in the men's doubles.
Advert
It wasn't to be, however, and the Murray brothers lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to Australian pair John Peers and Rinky Hijikata.
Murray was given a standing ovation after arriving on centre court and was given a worthy send-off after the defeat, with Novak Djokovic in attendance to pay tribute.
Murray was pencilled in to feature in a mixed doubles match with Emma Raducanu on Saturday but the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade has pulled out.
Advert
“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,” Raducanu said.
“I’m disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy but got to take care."
Raducanu, who is supposed to play Lulu Sun in her fourth-round singles match on Sunday, was looking forward ro stepping on the court with Murray for what would have been his Wimbledon farewell.
“I think playing with Andy will just massively inspire me and just give me a lot of life and energy and adrenaline, and I love that," she added.
Advert
“I’m physically in a really good spot and also if I’m in the second week of Wimbledon I’ll be jumping for joy so it’s for me a win-win.”
In an emotional speech on Thursday after his doubles defeat, Murray opened up on his career achievements.
"I’ve had incredible support and I think all the players here know that you can’t do this on your own. You need a team of people supporting you," he said.
Advert
"The coaches, strength and conditioning teams, physios. In recent years, surgeons unfortunately as well.
"I’ve had some amazing people working with me over the years. A huge thanks to them for supporting me through this. The last few years have been hard for me but I think hard for them.
"It’s obviously been hard for all of us. The injuries have been tough, quite significant injuries. We’ve worked extremely hard just to be on the court competing, probably not on the level that any of us wanted but we tried."
Topics: Andy Murray, Tennis