Sir Andy Murray has played his final match at Wimbledon after Emma Raducanu pulled out of their planned mixed doubles match citing stiffness in her right wrist.
Raducanu is prioritising her fourth-round singles match on Sunday against Lulu Sun of New Zealand and cancelled plans to compete with Murray last on Court 1 on Saturday, when the British icons were due to begin their mixed doubles run against Shuai Zhang of China and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.
It means that Murray has now played his final match at SW19. The two-time Wimbledon champion pulled out of the singles due to failing to recover in time after a cyst close to his spinal cord was removed because it was causing nerve pain in his right leg.
Murray did, however, play doubles with his brother Jamie on Thursday evening, losing to Aussie duo Rinky Hijikata and John Peers, 7-6, 4-6, on Centre Court. That has proven to be the final action of his Wimbledon career due to Raducanu’s decision, with Murray stating before this year’s Championships that he would retire from the sport after competing at the Paris Olympic Games next month.
Murray and Raducanu had never played doubles together before, but Raducanu said she was honoured when Murray approached her earlier this week with the suggestion the two compete in mixed doubles.
However, a statement from Raducanu on Saturday afternoon read: “A statement read: “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.”
Murray and Raducanu have been replaced in the mixed doubles by United States pair Rajeev Ram and Katie Volynets who will now face Arevalo and and Zhang instead.
Former Davis Cup champion and two-time Olympic Singles gold medalist Murray won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, as well as the US Open in 2012.
