‘I’ve been struggling for a long time’: Tearful Andy Murray announces he will retire from tennis after failing to overcome his hip injury
- Andy Murray, Britain’s greatest ever tennis player, is set to retire from the sport
- The Scot wants to end his career at Wimbledon, where he has won twice
- But he has admitted his hip means he cannot be certain he will be able to play
Andy Murray has announced he will retire this year.
The 31-year-old broke down in tears this morning as he revealed he would not compete beyond Wimbledon this summer because of his agonising hip injury.
Speaking in Melbourne on the eve of the Australian Open, the Scot revealed his fitness was ‘not great’ before leaving the room in an emotional state.
Andy Murray, Britain’s greatest ever tennis player, is set to retire this year due to a hip injury
The Scot broke down in tears during his press conference as he announced his decision
He returned moments later to confirm that his retirement is now very much in sight.
Murray said: ‘So I’m not feeling great. Been struggling for a long time, I’ve been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months.
‘I’ve pretty much done everything I could get my hip feeling better.
‘I’m in a better place than I was six months ago but I’m still in a lot of pain. It’s been tough.’ He said he was able to ‘play to a level, but not a level I’m happy about.’
Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, a US Open winner, Olympic gold medalist and a former World No 1, confirmed his desire to end his career at SW19, but added: ‘I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.’
He has wanted to go on until Wimbledon this summer but feels that even that may be a bridge too far.
The 31 year-old Scot, who was thrashed in a practice match by Novak Djokovic on Thursday, still plans to take his place in the Melbourne draw against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
He said there was an option to have another operation on his hip that will help him feel better in his retirement.
Murray began his press conferece by replying ‘I’m not great’ when asked how he was feeling. He then became emotional and left the room for several minutes to compose himself.
Upon returning he talked of how the pain in his hip had become of such an order that even the simple act of putting on socks was causing him difficulty. It seems that his dream of his daughters being able to watch him seriously compete is now, sadly, at an end.
‘Obviously I have been struggling a long time and I have been in pain for about twenty months now,’ he said. ‘I’ve pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and 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.
‘I’m going to play here. I can still play to a certain level, not a level I’m hapy playing at. It’s not just that. The pain is too much really, I don’t want to continue playing that way.
‘I’ve tried pretty much everything I could do but it hasn’t worked. In the middle of December I spoke to my team and told them I can’t keep doing this. I thought I need to have an end point, because I was playing with no idea of when the pain was going to stop.
‘I said to them maybe I could get through this until Wimbledon, that is where I would like to stop playing but I am also not certain I am able to do that.’
Asked whether this could turn out to be his last event he replied: ‘There’s a chance of that for sure.’
Murray married Kim Sears in 2015 and the couple have two daughters.
Murray is a two-time Wimbledon winner, a US Open winner and a former World No 1