Andy Murray has undergone hip surgery which he hopes might allow him to be back competing by Wimbledon.
The 30 year-old Scot spoke on Monday of how his withdrawal from this month’s events in Australia helped persuade him that he needed to have an operation after painstaking efforts at rehab had failed to yield the desired results.
Murray described the procedure, performed in Melbourne, as having gone ‘very well’, and while there are no certainties, it offers the prospect of him being back hitting balls within two months.
Andy Murray has had hip surgery and has targeted a return at this season’s Wimbledon
‘My plan is to be back playing around the grass court season – potentially before then, but I’m certainly not going to rush anything,’ he said. ‘I’ve been quoted times for how long it’s taken for players to get back from the surgery I’ve had, and I’ve been given up to 14 weeks. Most likely that will be around the grass court season, maybe slightly before.
‘I’m not going to put a date on it, because there’s no need for me to do that. I want to come back when I’m fit and ready to play, not to get into a situation like in Brisbane or New York (last year’s US Open), where I’m unsure when I turn up at a tournament how fit I am. I want to know when I come back that I’m ready.’
Six days ago Murray tapped out a heartfelt message on Instagram following his withdrawal from Brisbane, pointing to his sense of inner hurt and turmoil. On Thursday he pulled out of the Australian Open, and in the official accompanying statement said that ‘I’ll be flying home shortly to assess all the options.’
By then he had, in fact, made up his mind to undergo surgery performed by Melbourne-based specialist John O’ Donnell, one of the leading hip experts he has been consulting since Wimbledon, and someone he has visited before on trips to Australia.
Murray was forced to withdraw from this month’s events in Australia as a result of the issue
He met with him rather than head straight home to England, and it was decided to operate on Monday.
Having imposed an almost total news blackout over the past two months, during which he postponed his planned early arrival in Australia and then made an unscheduled visit to Abu Dhabi, he was keen to open up and address what he feels have been misconceptions.
Murray relatively poured forth in providing a much sunnier update. He explained that the consensus view he had received since limping out of Wimbledon’s quarter-final was that it was worth trying to rehab the hip due to the uncertain outcome of surgery.
The Scot has not played on the ATP Tour since last year’s quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon
He did not feel there was any alternative but to pursue that option initially, but it appears that the surgeon was happily surprised when he got a proper look inside the damaged area.
‘When you look at my hip on an MRI scan just now, it doesn’t look very good. Most tennis players’ hips if you scanned them wouldn’t look particularly good,’ said Murray. ‘The potential is that the time out is a long time and also there is a good chance you don’t recover to a level to play tennis.
‘When we discussed it with him, it was “look let’s try to do as little as possible with the highest chance of success” but with the knowledge that when he goes in there if there’s things he sees that needs to be done he repairs and sorts them. That is what he did.’
Murray, who will not be able to fly home for at least another week, also revealed that he underwent minor groin surgery on December 18. That was not on the scale of Monday’s operation, and was similar to something that keeps footballers out for a few weeks.
The latest surgery has left him feeling much more upbeat than he evidently was when he took to Instagram to give vent to his feelings last week.
‘I’m very optimistic (about the future) because, having spoken to the surgeon after he did the surgery, he was very happy about how it went.
Murray was due to compete in Brisbane last week but pulled out shortly before the first day
‘He felt that my hip will be feeling better than it did a year ago and, obviously, I was still doing fine a year ago, I was ranked No 1 in the world. Moving forward I’ll certainly be playing a reduced schedule, and then focusing more on trying to win major events and big tournaments rather than trying to achieve certain ranking goals.
‘I’ve been fairly competitive with top 50 players in the world practising in Brisbane when I was struggling to move, and I made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon when I literally couldn’t walk and was in so much pain. So if I can get myself to 95 per cent of my best I believe that’s enough to compete at the highest level. No question.
The Scot is feeling ‘positive’ following the operation and is set for 14 weeks of recovery
‘I was nervous this morning but it was the right decision to make. I’ve been in pain walking since before Wimbledon. It’s got better but still it’s extremely tiring mentally when every single time you are walking that you are feeling your hip, from the first minute that you wake up in the day and start walking to when you lie down at night.
‘It was like I was stopping myself extending my leg because of the pain. So I could kind of move about 80 per cent, but that last 10, 15 or 20 per cent, when I would have to sprint or move extremely fast or very explosively, I wasn’t able to do it.’
Recovery will require more of the disciplined kind of work he has been doing in the past six months. His social post suggested he was not sure where to turn, although he insisted on Monday that he has been following a firm path all along.
During the many weeks ahead of further recovery he will use the thought of his older daughter, Sophia, one day watching him play tennis as fuel for the long hours of grind to come.
‘I have spoken to my wife a little bit about it,’ said Murray. ‘ One of the things that I would like to do is play until my eldest daughter is able to watch me and have a small understanding of what it is I’ve done for my living.
Murray’s surgeon, John O’ Donnell, believes his hip will be feeling better than it did at SW19
‘That’s one of the things that’s motivated me to keep playing. That would be cool if she can come along and watch me hit some balls or practice just to see what it is I do. I like seeing a lot of the other (players’) kids when they are on the tour with their parents, who get to do a bit of travelling with them when they’re at an age when they actually understand a little bit more about what it is that they’re doing.
‘Now I’ve had surgery and stuff, that’s something I’m looking forward to in the future.
‘I’m not finished playing tennis yet. The rest of my body feels fantastic. I feel really good physically now apart from this one issue. I think I’m going to be back on the court competing at the highest level again.’
Time will tell, and if he comes back after Wimbledon it will be as a 31 year-old without any sort of ranking. But he has overcome the odds many times before.