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With just one day before the draw, and three before the Olympic tennis events get under way, there’s bad news on the men’s singles side.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who had been reported to be unwell earlier in the week, has tonsillitis and will miss the Olympics.

And Andy Murray, who moved heaven and earth to try to play this – the final event of his career – may be right behind him.

Sinner announced his withdrawal on social media, saying he had been feeling unwell for a few days and in the end, that’s what the doctor diagnosed.

Sono amareggiato di informarvi che purtroppo non potrò partecipare ai Giochi Olimpici di Parigi.

Dopo una buona settimana di allenamento sulla terra ho cominciato a non sentirmi bene. Ho trascorso un paio di giorni a riposo ed in visita il medico ha riscontrato una tonsillite e… pic.twitter.com/Qrx8TJLoMA
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) July 24, 2024

Sinner will head home. He also left doubles partner Lorenzo Musetti without a partner; Luciano Darderi, who hadn’t been down for doubles, steps in.

(Darderi, who was the No. 5 seed in Umag, lost in the second round to Jakub Mensik on Wednesday).

So they did, but it’s all feeling like a bit of improvisational theatre.

Murray likely to follow

Speaking to the media in Paris, Murray said he was almost certainly going to withdraw from singles and focus on the doubles.

Which was exactly what happened at Wimbledon.

So it may well be that the final singles match of his career was that terrible moment at Queen’s Club, when he felt tremendous pain and no feeling in his leg and had to retire in the first set against Jordan Thompson.

Murray ended up having surgery on a cyst on his back. But there just wasn’t enough recovery time.

Andy Murray has very likely played his last singles match. Speaking ahead of the tennis draw in Paris tomorrow, he said he's almost certain to pull out of singles, with doubles alongside Dan Evans the priority.
— Eleanor Crooks (@EleanorcrooksPA) July 24, 2024

Canadian Milos Raonic also might be a game-time decision.

Who steps in?

As we outlined in today’s Daily Drill, there is only one other player remaining in the other Olympics events who even had a singles ranking. They’re all doubles specialists at this point.

That was Andrea Vavassori, who actually is ranked higher than Hady Habib (who replaced Hubert Hurkacz) but for whatever reason wasn’t on top of the list.

He will replace Sinner.

The Daily Drill – Wednesday, July 24, 2024

We’d have to check to see, since Murray was in the event on an ITF special place, whether they could quickly nominate someone to take that place. Even if they’re not already entered in other events.

Surely someone will step up and play. But it just highlights, along with the country limits, how the Olympic tennis events are, tennistically speaking, not all that strong considering what’s at stake.