When Andy Murray underwent surgery in January, fans feared he might never play again.
But yesterday as the Scot confirmed he was fit to play, the world-renowned surgeon who rebuilt Murray’s hip spoke of his confidence that the British ace can secure another Wimbledon title.
At the All England Club, Murray told reporters: ‘Wimbledon for me is obviously special for a lot of reasons. I always want to be here competing.
When Andy Murray underwent surgery in January, fans feared he might never play again.
‘There’s certain things that are still tricky, and things I’m still trying to work through. These things are significantly better than what they were a few months ago. That’s for sure. It just takes time.’
Dr John O’Donnell, the Australian surgeon who operated on Murray, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘You have to be an optimist and you don’t get to the level Andy’s achieved without being an optimist. More than anyone, Andy’s got the grit to fight through this kind of injury and win Wimbledon again.’
Murray, 31, will return to Grand Slam tennis for the first time in a year on Tuesday when he takes on Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Just six months ago, he was lying in a hospital bed in Melbourne after Dr O’Donnell – one of the world’s leading hip specialists who has helped dozens of sports stars – had performed delicate surgery to stop the painful deterioration of Murray’s hip and career.
For almost a decade the Scot had been taking advice from Dr O’Donnell who said yesterday: ‘Andy’s become a friend. He’s been very kind so I’ve often had tickets to finals to sit among his people which is pretty exciting.
‘I tell him he can always contact me and he’s been known to give me a call at all sorts of weird and wonderful times when I’m in Australia and he’s elsewhere.’
To pursue his dream of adding to his three Grand Slam titles, Murray had put off surgery, but decided there was little choice after he was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open in January when he said: ‘Basically everything was hurting. I had never been in pain like that before.’
Dr O’Donnell said: ‘Before the procedure Andy was very stressed and wasn’t at all keen on having surgery when it was first brought up many years ago.
‘But the morning after the operation he was so positive. The surgery had happened and then we could just look forward and be optimistic about his future. He’s doing fabulously now and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so.’
It was under general anaesthetic that Murray had an hour-long femoroacetabular impingement.
The procedure, for which Dr O’Donnell was one of the pioneers, has transformed the world of orthopaedics and is performed on thousands of Britons each year. His leg was put in a clamp and the ball of his hip was gently dislocated by a quarter of an inch from the socket. Keyhole incisions were then made so that a camera and surgical instruments could be inserted.
Dr O’Donnell then slowly filed down abnormal surfaces of the bone in the hip joint, creating a smooth surface over which new cartilage can grow.