Injury has forced Andy Murray out of his second-round game against Jordan Thompson at Queen's to place his participation at Wimbledon in firm doubt.
Earlier this week Murray, who is set to retire later this year, was named in the squad for this summer's Paris Olympics, which will take place in Roland Garros - but that too must now be considered a potential doubt.
When warming up Murray was visibly uncomfortable, pointing to his right leg before attempting to fix his shoe. But the match began and he was quickly broken by Australian Thompson and at 2-1 down he began to receive treatment on the side of the court.
During a three-minute medical timeout, the Scot's right leg was stretched before he began lying face down on the grass with a physio tending to his lower back.
However, he chose to continue while still grimacing and shaking his lower right leg and promptly went 3-1 down against the serve.
In the next game Murray was unable to come off the ground when serving while mum Judy, wife Kim and his team watched on nervously from the stands.
At 4-1 he consulted his physio Shane Annun once again before turning to shake the hand of Thompson and conceding.
He received a huge ovation from a packed crowd, whom he saluted before limping away. This was only Murray's 18th match of another injury-interrupted final season.
Thompson progresses to the quarter-finals and he said: "It's never the way you want to go through, especially against a great champion like Andy. I was really looking forward to coming out here and facing him."
TV pundit Annabelle Croft said: "It was painful viewing, no one wants to see him hobbling around the court like that. The head wants to do it but the body won't let him.
"You're wondering, he wants to play Wimbledon and the Olympics, and were there were discussions there over whether this could hurt chances of playing those events."
TV footage played afterwards indicated that Murray was holding his back and walking gingerly down stairs before making his way to court, suggesting he may have been hurt beforehand.