Wimbledon fears for Andy Murray grow as hip problem persists four days before SW19

Fears over Andy Murray's fitness for Wimbledon have been exacerbated after the number one men's seed withdrew from his second scheduled exhibition match at the Aspall Tennis Classic due to injury.

Having suffered a shock first-round loss to late injury replacement Jordan Thompson at Queen's Club last week, Murray was due to play twice at Hurlingham as part of his disrupted preparations for SW19.

He pulled out of Tuesday's (27 June) opening meeting with Frenchman Lucas Pouille due a hip problem, although was still expected to take to the grass on Friday.

However, the world number one has now withdrawn from his second match, claiming that the affected area remains sore and will need to be rested.

"Sadly I won't be ready to play at Hurlingham tomorrow, my hip is still sore and I need to rest it today and likely tomorrow," he said on Thursday morning.

As the defending champion, Murray is due to open the 2017 Championships at Wimbledon with a match on Centre Court on Monday. The 30-year-old was named as the top seed in the men's draw on Wednesday, ahead of "Big Four" rivals Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

This hip complaint is the latest in a line of health issues to hamper Murray in 2017. He contracted shingles after crashing out of the Australian Open and later missed five weeks with an elbow injury before the second of two bouts of flu threatened to wreck his best-laid plans for Roland Garros.

Speaking to talkSPORT before confirmation of that second withdrawal at Hurlingham, Murray's mother, Judy, expressed hope that he would be fit to defend his title at the All England Club next week.

"It was a precaution to pull out of Hurlingham, although the weather was really bad so it's unlikely they were going to get play anyway," she said. "He's got another four or five days until everything kicks off, so hopefully he'll be fine.

"Andy has been unlucky with a few illnesses [this year] and an elbow injury, and that doesn't help if you don't have as much time to practice or as many matches as you would like. But he loves Wimbledon and he will be out there doing his best to try to defend his title."