Andy Murray's Wimbledon preparations take a hit as he pulls out of second Hurlingham match with hip injury
The World No 1 is still struggling with a hip injury ahead of Wimbledon
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray’s troubled Wimbledon preparations have taken a further blow after the World No 1 announced that he would not be playing at Hurlingham on Friday.
The 30-year-old, who is this summer attempting to become the first British man since Fred Perry to win three Wimbledon titles, said that he had not recovered from a hip injury in time to play in the exhibition match.
Murray had already pulled out of facing Frenchman Lucas Pouille on Tuesday because of his hip injury.
“Sadly I will not be ready to play at the Hurlingham tomorrow,” Murray said on Thursday. “My hip is still sore and I need to rest it today, and likely tomorrow.”
Murray has endured a difficult season after becoming World No 1 for the first time in his career at the end of 2016, and is without a title this year.
He crashed out of the Australian Open at the fourth round stage – his earliest exit from the Grand Slam since 2009 – and had a poor clay court season, although he did reach the semi-finals of the French Open for the fourth time in his career.
However, his preparations for Wimbledon have been little short of disastrous. He suffered a shock first round exit at Queen’s Club to Australian lucky loser Jordan Thompson, and has now been forced to withdraw from two exhibition matches through injury.
Murray’s difficult season has been punctuated with various health problems, including bouts of shingles and flu, an elbow injury as well as his hip complaint.
Despite his struggles, on Wednesday Murray was named the top seed at Wimbledon for the first time in his career.
He will avoid playing the likes of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal until the semi-finals.
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