Andy Murray has admitted he may miss the Paris Olympics, making next month's Wimbledon increasingly likely to be his final farewell to tennis.
The 37-year-old Briton lost in the first round of the Stuttgart Open, the season's first grass-court tournament, and has dropped out of the world top 100 for the first time in two years.
Murray failed to break his opponent's serve for the third consecutive match and lost 6-3, 6-4 to Marcos Giron of the United States, ranked 54th in the world.
The loss to Jilong, playing his 999th career singles match, is expected to see him drop from his current ranking of 97 to 128 in the new rankings table to be released next Monday.
Murray is eligible to compete in Paris at Roland Garros, the site of last week's French Open, as he has three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals, but has previously indicated he will only play if he feels he can reach the podium.
There is also the possibility of him competing in the Olympic Games in doubles with Dan Evans, but at present all that is confirmed is that Great Britain will send Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski as their top-ranked pair.
“We'll have to see how the Olympics go,” Murray said. “I'm not 100 percent sure what the doubles situation is yet, and I don't know if I'll play singles, if I'll play at all. I don't know.”
“I haven't been feeling very well playing on clay for the last month or so. I've had a lot of problems with my back, so I'm not sure if I'll just play singles. I'll have to wait and see.”
Murray, who has not won on the men's tour since 2019 after undergoing two major hip surgeries, said earlier this year that he would retire from tennis this summer but did not set a specific date.
Murray has not said whether he intends to play in the US hard-court season and his final match on a tennis court could come at Wimbledon, where he has twice won the men's singles title.
The London Games begin on July 1st.
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