Andy Murray makes ‘difficult decision to withdraw’ from Olympics singles competition

Andy Murray has seen his hopes of a third successive Olympic singles gold medal dashed after he suffered a fresh injury in Tokyo.

Murray won the gold in both of the last two tournaments, and he held high hopes of getting another medal at the delayed 2020 event.

He was due to open his campaign against Canadian ace Felix Auger-Aliassime, but a quad strain has forced him out with Australian Max Purcell taking his place.

However, Murray will continue to play in the doubles after he and Joe Salisbury pulled off a fine first round win over multiple Grand Slam champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

“The medical staff have advised me against playing in both events,” Andy Murray said.

“I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles and focus on playing doubles with Joe.”

On the doubles competition, Murray said: “I think we have the potential to be a really good team, I think the result today showed that.

“Doubles is always tricky because sometimes the matches come down to a few points and I think we were well-deserved winners today, we created a fair few chances. But not every doubles match is like that.

“I think if we keep the same attitude and prepare diligently, we have a chance of doing well.

“It is not easy, we have a tough match up next against a German pair [Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz] and we’re looking forward to that one.”