Andy Murray is said to be ‘absolutely devastated’ after his Wimbledon career was brought to an end after his mixed doubles partner Emma Raducanu pulled out of their match.
The British tennis legend had intended to play his last matches at the tournament with the 21-year-old English star in a celebratory climax to his stunning career, but won’t make it onto the court after Raducanu withdrew today citing ‘stiffness in her wrist’.
The 37-year-old had been forced to bow out of the singles on Monday with a back injury to the heartbreak of British fans, before losing alongside his brother Jamie in the first round of the men’s doubles, sparking a tearful post-match interview in which he admitted it was ‘too tough’ for him to continue playing.
He had hoped for some form of redemption by taking part in the mixed doubles with Raducanu – who previously said it was a ‘dream’ to partner up with him – before the shock announcement.
The move, which was revealed this afternoon, sparked a response from Murray’s mother, Judy, who remarked on social media that the decision was ‘astonishing’.
In a statement Raducanu had said: ‘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.’
The decision is said to have left Murray ‘absolutely devastated’, reports PA news agency.
Raducanu, who previously won the US Open, had been pictured training at Wimbledon this morning while wearing an England football shirt.
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Raducanu had previously said the scheduling of her match was ‘not ideal’ given it clashed with England’s match against Switzerland in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals and the night before her fourth round match in the women’s singles.
The tennis star said on Friday: ‘The scheduling of that was not ideal. It’s just an amazing opportunity to be able to play with him. It’s something that I’m going to cherish.’
And speaking after her victory over No 9 seed Maria Sakkari to move into the fourth round of the women’s singles draw on Friday night, she revealed how she wanted to make the most of her time at the tournament.
She remarked: ‘I think staying present in the moment is what got me this far. I’m not going to start changing anything.
‘I was able to turn some scorelines in the game around, being 15-40. I think that’s the best way for me to approach it. I think also for me to be winning that match against a top-10 opponent on Centre Court, it’s a beautiful feeling and one that I really want to savour.
‘Tennis is pretty brutal in the way you have to enjoy it tonight and then tomorrow you’re already thinking about the next one. You can win the tournament but you can lose first round the next week. It’s the sport. I’m just trying to cherish every moment I have here.’
However, her decision to pull out at short notice caught the attention of Judy Murray, the mother of her mixed doubles partner.
Responding to a tweet about the development, Judy called the move ‘astonishing’, as it meant her son’s career at Wimbledon was brought to a premature end.
Following the news the Prince and Princess of Wales paid tribute to Murray, praising him for his ‘incredible’ career at the tournament.
They wrote: ‘An incredible Wimbledon career comes to an end. You should be so very proud Andy Murray. On behalf of all of us, thank you! C.’
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Murray is set to retire at the Olympics, but the All England Club chose the emotional moment alongside his brother to celebrate his legacy.
Sue Barker, who stepped down as the BBC’s presenter of Wimbledon after 2022, returned especially to interview Murray on court, joking that she ‘couldn’t miss this’.
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The Olympic 2012 hero had come back to play in the tournament just days after undergoing spinal surgery, making a brave return in the hopes he could see out his SW19 career in style.
It comes as he nears the end of a stunning athletic career – after ranking at world number one for 41 weeks and winning a stunning three Grand Slam singles titles.
He also thrashed his way to victory at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games – becoming the only male player to have defended a singles gold medal.
Speaking after his defeat earlier this week, Murray said: ‘It is hard because I want to keep playing but I can’t, physically it’s too tough now. I want to play forever.
‘I love this sport. It has given me so much, taught me loads of lessons. I don’t want to stop.’
He added that it had been ‘very special’ to play with his brother in what would turn out to be his final Wimbledon match.
‘It was a race against time to get out here and physically it wasn’t easy but I’m glad we were able to do it one time together,’ he said.
His wife Kim, his two eldest children, eight-year-old Sophia and six-year-old Edie, mother Judy and father William were among those in the crowd.
Murray was visibly emotional as he was shown a video including messages from the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on Centre Court after his loss earlier this week.
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Fans gave Murray a standing ovation as the British star wiped tears from his eyes during his on-court interview with Barker.
A host of tennis greats were also present, such as Djokovic, Tim Henman, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Lleyton Hewitt.
Murray spoke candidly about his Wimbledon triumphs, his Olympic gold and his defeat by Roger Federer in the 2012 final in his conversation with Barker.
‘It’s always really difficult to speak after a loss, particularly after a Grand Slam final and being at Wimbledon,’ he said on the loss to Federer.
‘That’s the closest I had been and it was obviously difficult. It was quite an important moment in my career.
‘I’m not saying I’m the most outgoing or bubbly personality, but I think people probably saw how much I cared about the sport for the first time maybe.
‘Obviously it was an important match and important moment in my career.’
A few weeks later, Murray avenged the heartbreaking defeat by Federer as he beat the Swiss maestro on the same court to win Olympic gold at London 2012.
‘Definitely to that point it was the biggest week of my life,’ he added.
‘To turn that around after losing in the final of Wimbledon and then to come here and play, it was one of my favourite days I’ve ever had, certainly as an athlete.
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‘To play in a home Olympic Games at Wimbledon, to beat Roger for once in a big match was nice and then I had a great run in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson as well so yeah, it was an amazing week for me.’
Raducanu is due to play her fourth-round match against New Zealand’s Lulu Sun on Sunday, and at this stage there is no suggestion her wrist injury will rule her out of that match.
But Raducanu on Saturday afternoon decided to be cautious with a wrist on which she had surgery last year.
She was asked after her second-round win whether she had any hesitation in agreeing to play mixed doubles with Murray. ‘For me it was a no-brainer,’ she replied. ‘In my team, they were asking me, ‘Emma, are you sure you want to play? Just in case you’re still in the tournament’. I was like ‘No-brainer’.’
So there was clearly some uncertainty in her team about the prospect of her playing three days in a row, and Raducanu herself said after the Sakkari win: ‘The scheduling of (the mixed) was not ideal.’
That was a reference to the fact they had been placed fourth on No 1 Court and were facing an extremely late night – far from ideal preparation for one of the bigger matches of her life.
That was widely seen as an attempt by the All England Club to make sure the match did not clash with England v Switzerland at Euro 2024.
Organisers at Wimbledon had previously said they would be ‘reactive’ when deciding the order of matches, admitting they had to ‘juggle’ ties with England games on television.
Speaking on Friday tournament organiser Jamie Baker said: ‘It’s not unusual. It’s happened quite often. Andy and Emma will be on tomorrow’s schedule definitely, but whether they get on depends on what happens today and what court depends on what happens tomorrow.
‘Obviously Emma is playing singles today so again, a bit will depend on what happens with that result.’
Pressed more specifically on whether plans are in place given the obvious TV interest on the BBC to give prominence to both England’s match and the Raducanu-Murray doubles, Baker accepted the fluidity of how long tennis matches run complicate things.
‘The things that we have to juggle is that with the football matches we know exactly what time they are but with tennis matches you don’t know exactly what time,’ he added.
‘You have to be a little bit reactive and we have a huge team of people who are very experienced so it’s bread and butter for them those things.’
But actually Wimbledon had little choice in positioning the match late, because one of the British pair’s opponents, El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo, had his first-round men’s doubles rained off on Friday and had to finish it this morning, so the schedule had to allow him sufficient time to rest between his two matches.
It surely means Murray’s final match at Wimbledon was his straight sets first round defeat with his brother Jamie in the men’s doubles on Thursday night, after which he took a look back at his career on court with Sue Barker.