Tennis - Queen's Club Championships - The Queen's Club, London, Britain - June 19, 2024 Britain's Andy Murray in action during his men's singles second match against Australia's Jordan Thompson Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
LONDON (Reuters) -Record five-times Queen's champion Andy Murray was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a back injury after trailing 4-1 in the opening set of his second-round match against Australian Jordan Thompson on Wednesday.
The former world number one, a three-times Grand Slam champion, had celebrated his 1,000th tour-level singles match by beating Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the first round.
"I didn't get the right side of my back treated after the French Open. All tennis players have degenerative joints in the back but it's all predominantly been left-sided for me, for pretty much my whole career," Murray told reporters.
The 37-year-old Murray, who considered retiring in 2019 due to a hip injury, hopes to play at Wimbledon with rest and treatment.
He has won Wimbledon twice but has not got past the third round at the grasscourt tournament in the last three years.
"Maybe there's something which can be done between now and then with my right side, will have a scan tomorrow and re-check and see what can be done," he said.
Murray said he felt discomfort in Tuesday's match.
"It didn't feel too dissimilar to yesterday, slightly worse," he added.
"If it felt like that before the match, I wouldn't have played but from my pre-match warm-up to the match court, I wish I hadn't gone on court to be honest."
Murray has previously said it would be a fitting end to his career if he bowed out at this year's Wimbledon or the Paris Olympics. The Scot, twice Olympic gold medallist, said in February that he was unlikely to continue playing next season.
Wimbledon runs from July 1-14.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
