Andy Murray revealed on Monday that he has had hip surgery in Australia which he hopes will not only allow him to play at Wimbledon this summer, the scene of his last competitive match, but also restore him to near the highpoint of his career in late 2016, when he began a run of 42 weeks as world No1.
Speaking from his hospital bed only hours after Dr John O’Donnell, one of the world’s leading hip surgeons, had operated on him, Murray said: “I went in at 7.30am [Melbourne time] and I woke up from the operation about 10.30am. I’m very optimistic because, having spoken to the surgeon, he was very happy about how it went. He felt that my hip will be feeling better than it did a year ago. I was still doing fine a year ago, ranked No1 in the world.”
Murray – who had given the impression last Thursday that he was flying home to London after pulling out of the Brisbane International, when he was actually making probably the biggest decision of his career 12,000 miles away – will return to the UK within a fortnight, when he says he should be fit enough to fly. He did not think he would attend the Australian Open, which starts next Monday and revealed he hopes to begin his rehab in a little over three months.
