Andy Murray hip injury: Tennis star reveals extent of damage which has forced retirement

End game: Andy Murray says he will end to his playing career in 2019
EPA
Paul Newman11 January 2019

An emotional Andy Murray has revealed the “severely damaged right hip” which has forced him into premature retirement has left him struggling with simple tasks like putting shoes and socks on.

Murray broke down in tears here on Friday as he announced that next week’s Australian Open could be the last tournament of his career. The former world No 1 said that the pain was so great that it was time for him to retire.

Murray, who had surgery a year ago, said he had decided last month to make this summer’s Wimbledon his final tournament, but now feared that he might not be able to cope with the physical pain he would suffer if he continued to play over the next few months.

“I can still play to a level, but not a level I am happy playing at,” he said. “The pain is too much really. I don’t want to continue playing that way. I think I have tried pretty much everything I could to get it right and that hasn’t worked.”

Although Murray confirmed that he would play here – he meets Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round on Monday – he admitted there was a chance that this might be his last tournament.

“I am not sure I am able to play through the pain for another four or five months,” he said. “I have an option to have another operation, which is a little bit more severe than what I have had before. [It would involve] having my hip resurfaced, which will allow me to have a better quality of life, be out of pain.”

Murray said he was contemplating having the operation, but not with a view to saving his career. He has been talking to the American doubles player, Bob Bryan, who had the same operation last summer and has returned to competition this year. However, the Scot insisted there was “a difference between singles and doubles in terms of the physicality and the movement” and said he would not contemplate just playing doubles in future.

Current and former players reacted with sadness to Murray’s news and expressed their admiration for all he has achieved. Despite playing in an era that has featured three of the greatest players of all time in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, he has won three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals and led Britain to their first Davis Cup triumph for 79 years.

Juan Martin del Potro urged Murray to “keep fighting” and added: “You deserve to retire on your own terms, whenever that happens.”

Billie Jean King, who has often praised Murray for speaking up for women, said he was “a champion on and off the court”, while Kyle Edmund, his successor as British No 1, said he had been his greatest role model.

A highly emotional Murray had broken down in tears after admitting at the start of his pre-tournament press conference that he was “not great”. He had to leave the room for several minutes to compose himself and was still tearful on his return.

“Obviously I’ve been struggling for a long time,” he explained. “I have been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now. I have pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better. It hasn’t helped loads. I’m in a better place than I was six months ago, but still in a lot of pain. It’s been tough.”

He added: “There are little things, day to day, that are also a struggle. It would be nice to be able to do them without any pain: putting shoes and socks on, things like that.”

Murray, who has worked tirelessly on his rehabilitation, was asked how he had been dealing with his situation from a psychological point of view.

“I have been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now. I have pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better. It hasn’t helped loads.

Andy Murray

“I have talked a lot - way too much - about my hip for 18 months,” he said. “It’s a daily thing. It isn’t just people I work with that ask me. It’s everyone. Everyone I bump into. That is all I talk about it. It’s pretty draining.

“I have spoken a number of times with psychologists about it, but nothing helps because you are in lots and lots of pain. You cannot do what it is that you want to do, and you love doing. Or I can do it, but it’s not fun or enjoyable doing it any more.

In Pictures | Andy Murray at the 2019 Brisbane International

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“That is what I have done. I have tried to deal with it, talked about it, but none of that makes my hip feel better unfortunately. I wish it did, because if it did, it would be feeling brilliant right now - but it doesn’t.”

Murray has suffered with a hip problem for several years, but it became much worse in the summer of 2017. After limping out of Wimbledon he aborted two attempted comebacks at Grand Slam tournaments in the following six months before deciding to have surgery last January.

Although he finally began his comeback during last summer’s grass-court season Murray pulled out of Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament and played only 12 matches before ending his season early.

Murray, who then spent several weeks in Philadelphia working with a “reconditioning coach”, revealed that during his training block in Miami last month he had told his entourage: “I cannot keep doing this.”

He explained: “I needed to have an end point, because I was playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop. I felt like making that decision. I said to my team: ‘Look, I think I can get through this until Wimbledon.’ That’s where I would like to stop playing, but I am not certain I am able to do that.”

Murray returned to competition last week after another break of more than three months, but in his practice match here against Djokovic on Thursday it was evident that he was still struggling. On the same day he went to see John O’Donnell, the Melbourne-based surgeon who operated on him 12months ago.

“There are certain things on the court I cannot really do properly now, but the pain is the driving factor,” Murray said. “I can play with limitations. That’s not an issue. But the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing, training or any of the stuff I love about tennis.”

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