Wimbledon 2018: Andy Murray withdraws - how Twitter reacted

Britain’s Andy Murray will miss this year’s Wimbledon Championships after announcing his withdrawal from the tournament.

The two-time Wimbledon winner was due to play Benoit Paire in the first round but has decided not to risk his fitness. Murray, 31, has only recently returned to the court after an 11-month spell on the sidelines due to a hip injury and surgery.

In a statement on Facebook, Murray said: “It is with a heavy heart that I’m announcing that I’ll be withdrawing from Wimbledon this year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“I’ve made significant progress in practice and matches over the last ten days, but after lengthy discussions with my team, we’ve decided that playing best of five set matches might be a bit too soon in the recovery process. We did everything we could to try to be ready in time.

“I will start practising on the hard courts from tomorrow and continuing with my rehab and recovery and I’m looking forward to the US hard court season. Thanks for all the messages of support and I’m excited to finally be back playing after so long out.”

Tournament organisers have announced that “lucky loser” Jason Jung from Chinese Taipei will replace Murray in the main draw.

How Twitter reacted: