Andy Murray announces he will miss Wimbledon 2018

Andy Murray has announced he will not take part at Wimbledon, as he is not ready for five-set matches following a lengthy injury lay-off.

The Scot tweeted his disappointment at missing out, just hours ahead of the tournament.

The tournament begins on Monday. Murray’s first-round match against Benoit Paire was scheduled for Tuesday.

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Murray had surgery on his hip in January and returned to competition only two weeks ago, warming up at Eastbourne last week, even beating Stan Wawrinka before losing to Kyle Edmund

However, his rehabilitation has taken longer than hoped and while already on the comeback trail, he is content to ease his way back to competitive action.

In 2013, he became the first British man in 77 years to win the Wimbledon singles title. He won the tournament again two years ago,and has also won the 2012 U.S. Open and two Olympic singles gold medals.

Lucky loser Jason Jung of Taiwan will take Murray’s place in the main draw.

At a press conference last week, Murray, 31, was asked whether he would play long enough for his two daughters, two and eight months, to see their father compete. He had previously expressed a desire to do exactly that but is now more circumspect.

“Obviously, I would want them to watch me playing where I’m physically capable of playing properly, at a level that I’d be happy playing at. I’m not just going to keep playing for four years or three years if I don’t feel like I can play, I’m in pain, I’m not enjoying it.

“I mean, I’m saying that based on the hope that I’m physically good and healthy, all of those things. I mean, if I had to stop tomorrow, yeah, I mean, I’d be pretty gutted with that because I still love playing, I love the sport… So, yeah, I want to keep playing as long as I can, providing I’m physically capable of doing that, I’m not in a lot of pain and discomfort.”

This is the fifth tournament in seven that Murray has entered and then withdrawn at or near the last possible minute.

Nursing a chronically painful hip – which required surgery in January – he pulled out of the US Open last September, the Brisbane Open over the New Year, the Australian Open and then, most recently, an ATP250 grass‑court tournament at Rosmalen in the Netherlands.