Britain’s tennis player Andy Murray on Friday announced he would likely retire from playing tennis this year due to severe pain from a hip injury, saying next week’s Australian Open could be the last tournament of a glittering career.
The tennis player, who is struggling to recover from hip surgery, was in tears at a news conference in Melbourne, Australia.
“I can play with limitations. But having the limitations and the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing or training,” the emotional Scot said.
Thirty-one-year-old “Sir Andy,” said he would like to finish at his home Grand Slam in Wimbledon, but ruefully admitted he might not make it that far.
He will be remembered as the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years and as a player who battled his way to the top in a golden era for the game alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
“Wimbledon is where I would like to stop playing, but I am not certain I am able to do that,” he said.
“I’ve been struggling for a long time. I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.
“Pretty much-done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and it hasn’t helped loads.”
He pulled out of last year’s Australian Open to have hip surgery and only returned in June at Queen’s Club in London.
He ended the season at Shenzhen in September after only a handful of appearances to concentrate on working his way back to full fitness.
But he was knocked out in the second round on his return at Brisbane last week and called it quits on Thursday after less than an hour of a practice match in Melbourne against Djokovic, with his movement clearly hampered.
“I think there is a chance the Australian Open is my last tournament,” he said.
He hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final since winning his second Wimbledon title in 2016 but has nevertheless enjoyed a glittering career since turning professional in 2005, with not only three Grand Slam titles, but two Olympic gold medals and 45 ATP crowns.
Notably, in 2013 Murray became the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years, ending the nation’s obsession with finding a champion to follow in the footsteps of Fred Perry.
Murray said he had an option of another operation on his troublesome hip, but it was more about his quality of life after hanging up his racquet. “That’s something I’m seriously considering right now,” he said.
