Former world number one Andy Murray has announced his withdrawal from this year’s Wimbledon Open on the eve of the tournament.

Murray, 31, made the announcement via his Facebook page on Sunday evening.

The two-time winner had been struggling with fitness issues following a year out with hip injury.

The Scot competed at two major Wimbledon Open warm-up tournaments, Queen’s and Eastbourne, to boost his participation at the Grand Slam event proper only for him to announce his withdrawal just before the start of the tournament.

Murray, who was drawn with Frenchman Benoit Paire in the first round wrote via Facebook: “Hey everyone…”

“It is with a heavy heart that I’m announcing that I’ll be withdrawing from Wimbledon this year.

“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 hardcourt season.

“Thanks for all the messages of support and I’m excited to finally be back playing after so long out.” He concluded.