Andy Murray OUT of Wimbledon amid injury heartache but two-time champion has one ace left

Andy Murray has ruled himself OUT of Wimbledon and the SW19 legend could now have struck his last ball on Centre Court in singles action.

The Dunblane ace was due to play Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in Tuesday's first round clash but the 37-year-old has been forced to admit defeat in his battle to take his place in this year's tournament having failed to recover sufficiently from surgery to remove a spinal cyst in his back but he WILL play men's doubles with brother Jamie and they are up against Australian duo Rinky Hijikata and John Peers on Wednesday.

A statement issued on his behalf read: "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 singles this year. 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."

Murray has been plagued by injuries in recent years and it could now be that the British sporting legend won't get the chance to grace the Wimbledon stage again. He made his debut as a teenager in 2005, reaching the third round where he sampled Centre Court for the first time and produced a battling display against 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian, racing into a shock two-set lead before going down in five.

It started a Wimbledon love affair and in 2013 he became the first British male to win the singles tournament since Fred Perry 77 years earlier Murray, who won the US Open the year before to break his Grand Slam duck, lifted the title again three years later. Murray revealed his desperation to experience the famous Centre Court crowd one last time but sadly he has been denied that opportunity, in singles at least, due to injury.

He said: “I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there hopefully on Centre Court, and I don’t know, feel that buzz. Like last year, I wasn’t planning on it being my last year on the tour. I wanted to come back and play again, whereas this year I have no plans to do that. It’s coming to the end of my career and I want to have that opportunity to play here again.”