Wimbledon: Andy Murray’s incredible feat that eluded Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal
Andy Murray has played his last singles match at Wimbledon and he will retire with a remarkable record at the All England Club.
The 37-year-old was set to face Tomas Machac in the opening round of the 2024 Wimbledon men’s singles event on Tuesday, but he announced his withdrawal.
The three-time Grand Slam champion will still compete in the doubles tournament with his brother Jamie Murray, but he also revealed this will be his last appearance at Wimbledon.
“Unfortunately, despite working incredibly hard on his recovery since his operation just over a week ago, Andy has taken the very difficult decision not to play the singles this year,” Murray’s management team announced in a statement.
“As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed but has confirmed that he will be playing in the doubles with Jamie and looks forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time.”
Andy Murray is Britain’s greatest sportsperson of all time – that will be his legacy
Murray underwent surgery to remove a cyst on his back just over a week before the start of Wimbledon, having struggled with a back injury since the clay-court season.
The former world No 1’s withdrawal brings a sad end to his singles career at Wimbledon, but the British legend has built a glittering legacy at grass-court Grand Slam.
One statistic that illustrates Murray’s incredible consistency at Wimbledon is the fact that he never lost to an unseeded player in his 15 singles appearances.
Murray, who was a Wimbledon champion in 2013 and 2016, compiled a superb 61-13 record at the All England Club.
Andy Murray’s 15 Wimbledon campaigns
2005 – lost to David Nalbandian (18) in 3R
2006 – lost to Marcos Baghdatis (18) in 4R
2008 – lost to Rafael Nadal (2) in QF
2009 – lost to Andy Roddick (6) in SF
2010 – lost to Rafael Nadal (2) in SF
2011 – lost to Rafael Nadal (2) in SF
2012 – lost to Roger Federer (3) in F
2013 – beat Novak Djokovic (1) in F
2014 – lost to Grigor Dimitrov (11) in QF
2015 – lost to Roger Federer (2) in SF
2016 – beat Milos Raonic (6) in F
2017 – lost to Sam Querrey (24) in QF
2021 – lost to Denis Shapovalov (10) in 3R
2022 – lost to John Isner (20) in 2R
2023 – lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) in 2R
Murray’s only Wimbledon defeat to a player ranked outside of the top 20 came against Sam Querrey in the 2017 quarter-finals, when he was struggling with the hip injury that required two surgeries.
The Brit’s biggest rivals — Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal — all lost to unseeded players at Wimbledon.
In terms of unseeded defeats, Federer was beaten by Jiri Novak in 1999, Mario Ancic in 2002, and Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2013, while Nadal fell to Gilles Muller in 2004, Lukas Rosol in 2012, Steve Darcis in 2013, Nick Kyrgios in 2014 and Dustin Brown in 2015.
Djokovic’s only loss to an unseeded player at Wimbledon came against two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin in 2008.
