AGONY OF ANDY MURRAY
Tormented by injury, thinking of surgery and tortured by doubts about his future …
FOR Andy Murray pride has been replaced by pathos, the Scot laid low by anxiety as his hip staunchly refuses to bend to his will.
The twice Wimbledon champion was back in his city hotel late yesterday afternoon, warm rain falling torrentially outside, when he sat down to write a poignant message on his Instagram account.
The means of communication was as modern as it gets, but it told an ancient tale: that of the supreme sporting competitor whose body is wearing out through age and all the strain he has needed to put it under.
Earlier Murray had missed his allotted practice session ahead of his scheduled comeback tomorrow at the Brisbane International, and then informed the tournament that, once again, he was pulling out to reset his comeback goals.
It’s hard not to feel for the 30year-old as he spelt out the bleak, career-threatening option of undergoing the operation he has been trying to avoid. He wrote the message himself, unfiltered by the assistance of professional PR. ‘I’ve obviously been going through a really difficult period with my hip for a long time and have sought council (counsel) from a number of hip specialists,’ he said.
‘Having been recommended to treat my hip conservatively since the US Open I have done everything asked of me from a rehab perspective and worked extremely hard to try (to) get back on the court competing. Having played practice sets here in Brisbane with some top players unfortunately this hasn’t worked yet to get me to the level I would like so I have to reassess my options.
‘Obviously continuing rehab is one option and giving my hip more time to recover. Surgery is also an option but the chances of a successful outcome are not as I high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that. However this is something I may have to consider but let’s hope not.’
Murray still holds out hope that he might yet be able to play at the Australian Open, which begins a week on Monday. Yet it would seem fanciful that a chronic condition could improve sufficiently in the next few days to allow him to compete in best-of-five set matches.
Compounding everything will be the thought that he may have wasted six precious months in not having already chosen surgery, should he now go for that option.
There is a school of thought that Ivan Lendl’s departure from his team in November was connected to his former coach believing that going for an operation was the correct thing to do.
Lendl, who was part of the Murray camp for all three of his Grand Slam triumphs, has never confirmed this but he has personal experience of hip issues.
Murray has exercised his right as an individual athlete to keep the exact nature of the hip trouble to himself.
One of the half dozen experts the Scot has seen is believed to have advised that Murray’s career as an elite athlete is probably over, another that emerging hip surgery techniques promised a very good outcome. What we know for sure is that, six months on from when he last hit a ball in anger in Wimbledon’s quarter finals, he is still not at a point where he trusts himself to put everything on the line again.
And that, clearly, is extremely painful. One tournament source described yesterday’s withdrawal process as having been ‘emotional’.
‘I would give anything to be back out there,’ continued Murray, who accompanied his post with a picture of himself as a child in cheer- ful innocence.
‘I didn’t realise until these last few months just how much I love this game. Every time I wake up from sleeping or napping I hope that it’s better and it’s quite demoralising when you get on the court it’s not at the level you need it to be to compete at this level.
‘In the short term I’m going to be staying in Australia for the next couple of days to see if my hip settles down a bit and will decide by the weekend whether to stay out here or fly home to assess what I do next.
‘Sorry for the long post but I wanted to keep everyone in the loop and get this off my chest as it’s really hurting inside.’
The omens had not been good, even before he postponed his original plans to arrive in Australia well before Christmas to properly acclimatise himself.
In the end he landed here on Saturday morning via a couple of days in Abu Dhabi, where he played an impromptu set at an exhibition event, getting slowly more competitive against world No 20 Roberto Bautista Agut. He had returned early from his training block in Miami in December, where he had skipped a few of the sessions he was scheduled for.
Yesterday his compatriot Kyle Edmund recalled the limitations of an indoor practice session with Murray, just prior to going to Florida.
‘He was hitting the ball extremely well but we didn’t really do any running,’ said Edmund. ‘We didn’t play any points because we were just drilling. So I didn’t really see him run. I couldn’t really say what he was like moving side to side.’
ONE knowledgeable observer who had watched him practise against the formidable Milos Raonic on Monday had, nonetheless, been encouraged by what he saw. The player himself had been relatively upbeat in his pronouncements after arriving.
And it should not be forgotten that if anyone can drive themselves to overcome a persistent injury it is Murray. Proving people wrong has always been his most powerful fuel.
But these are tough times for the player who has given so much, and an unhappier new year for the sport as a whole than looked likely to be the case a month ago.
The Australian Open, which had promised to be a great reunion for many of tennis’s biggest names after long absences, may now be undermined by several no-shows.
There are more of the established men’s top 10 players from recent years who have a question mark against their fitness than there are those presenting with a clean bill of health. Serena Williams seems to have gone back home to Florida after briefly resurfacing in the Middle East.
‘Something tells me that probably two guys out of the five, six that have been injured for a while now probably won’t make it,’ said Roger Federer yesterday.
For Murray specifically there is the option of playing in the ATP Sydney International event next week, or a less taxing exhibition tournament at Kooyong in Melbourne. Last night a more likely course of action appeared to be taking the long flight home... to an uncertain professional future.
“I would give
anything to be back out there”