Murray withdraws from Wimbledon

Two-time champion Andy Murray pulled out of Wimbledon because of a bad hip that has been a problem for about a year and was surgically repaired less than six months ago.

The All England Club announced Murray’s withdrawal yesterday, a day before the grass-court grand slam tournament begins.

‘‘I’ve made significant progress in practice and matches over the last 10 days, but after lengthy discussions with my team and with a heavy heart, we’ve decided that playing best-of-five-set matches might be a bit too soon in the recovery process,’’ Murray said in a statement. ‘‘We did everything we could to try to be ready in time.’’

Murray had been scheduled to play Benoit Paire in the first round. Murray beat Paire in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year then lost to Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals, clearly hampered by the hip, and did not play again for the rest of 2017.

The 31-year-old Murray had an operation in January and returned to competition a little less than two weeks ago.

‘‘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,’’ Murray said.

In 2013, he became the first British man in 77 years to collect a Wimbledon singles title, and he won the championship again in 2016. He’s reached at least the quarterfinals in each of his past 10 appearances at the All England Club.

Considered a member of the ruling ‘‘Big Four’’ quartet of men’s tennis, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Murray also won the 2012 US Open and two Olympic singles gold medals. But all of his time away meant the former No 1-ranked Murray has fallen out of the top 150 and he was not seeded at Wimbledon.

Murray on Sunday had said he planned to play in the tournament unless, he explained, ‘‘I wake up and don’t feel good’’.

‘‘There’s certain things that are still tricky and things I’m still trying to work through. These things are significantly better than what they were a few months ago.’’

Murray’s spot in the draw will be taken by Jason Jung, of Taiwan, who lost in qualifying.