Andy Murray’s Wimbledon career came to an anticlimactic end on Saturday, when mixed doubles partner Emma Raducanu pulled out of that competition hours before their first-round match.
The 37-year-old Murray, a two-time singles champion at the All England Club, had said he would head into retirement after competing at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics, which start later this month.
Mixed doubles was supposed to be the last event at the grass-court grand slam tournament for Murray, who withdrew from singles because of an operation to remove a cyst from his spine on June 22, and then exited in the first round of men’s doubles alongside his older brother, Jamie.
“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 won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier at age 18, but her career has since been sidetracked by a series of injuries and she had procedures on both of her wrists and an ankle last year.
Her fourth-round match in singles against Lulu Sun of New Zealand is scheduled for Sunday.
The All England Club feted Murray with a post-match celebration of his career after he and Jamie were beaten in men’s doubles at Centre Court on Thursday, including a four-minute highlight video that included tributes from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams.
Tournament organisers made the prescient decision to hold the special ceremony after that match, rather than waiting until after he played mixed doubles, just in case Murray and Raducanu ended up not competing together.
Because the brackets were already set for mixed doubles with the official draw, Murray was not allowed to find a new partner so he could stay in that event.
Katie Volynets and Rajeev Ram were moved into the mixed doubles field to substitute for Raducanu and Murray, and will face Zhang Shuai and Marcelo Arevalo.
Murray’s 2013 title at Wimbledon made him the first British man in 77 years to win the singles championship at the tournament, and he won the trophy again in 2016.
Murray also won the 2012 US Open, finished 2016 at No 1 in the ATP rankings, claimed two singles gold medals at the Summer Olympics and led Britain to a Davis Cup title.
