Andy Murray faces a fresh battle to keep his career alive after learning he may need surgery to fix a bone growth around his hip. Murray was forced to miss January’s ATP Cup and the Australian Open due to an issue with his hip.
And his return was put back again as he pulled out of events in Montpellier and Rotterdam.
Murray has been rehabbing in recent weeks and is back training at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre in Roehampton with the hope of playing at the Miami Open next month.
But the two-time Wimbledon champion has revealed he is waiting to discover whether he will need surgery to deal with a heterotopic ossification (HO) – the formation of bone in the soft tissue close to the skeleton.
Murray has been told he may have developed HO as a consequence of the hip resurfacing operation he had last January and could need surgery to solve the problem, putting his career at a crossroads.
The 32-year-old has been clear about his desire to play against the best in the world once again, having won the European Open in Antwerp in October.
But the former world No 1 admits if his worst fears are confirmed, he could be forced to miss Wimbledon and be set for another extended period on the sidelines.
“I do want to keep playing. It’s just whether I’m able to or not is the question,” he said.
“It’s been unbelievably complex. Hopefully the activity around this heterotopic ossification settles down. I’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. I might be playing in the next few weeks as well.
“This is just something that comes up which is extremely common in hip resurfacing, a traumatic kind of injury.
“If I have to have that removed because it is what is causing the problem, then that is a pain in the a***.
“That’s what I hope but over the last couple of years I have become quite pessimistic about time frames, issues and stuff because of what has gone on really and what has been said to me.
“I don’t want to say I will definitely be in Miami playing but there is also the possibility that I might have to have something done. We’ll just have to see.
“I should know by the end of next month whether I’m good to play or not with it. That’s what I have to wait for. And then the issue around that is if they can’t get to it with an arthroscope, which is obviously the hope, is that I would then have to be opened up again. That obviously takes longer to recover.
“It’s not like a major operation to have it removed but it’s just if they cannot get there with an arthroscope to remove it, that is the issue. How long would I be out for? I have no idea.
“The thing is, if I have that thing removed and it just grows back, I can’t do anything about that really.”
