Latest injury a real threat to Murray
Andy Murray’s comeback will effectively be over if he fails to recover from his latest injury setback, a leading hip specialist has warned.
Murray, 32, who has not played since November, announced on Thursday that he is withdrawing from two events next month with the pelvic problem which forced him out of the Australian Open.
Giles Stafford, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who has closely monitored Murray’s return, said: “If it doesn’t get better then it might be the end of what Andy is hoping to achieve.
“It will limit his comeback. He might be able to play doubles but singles could be too much for him. So it is obviously a concern going forward.
“With regards as to how things develop, if the injury doesn’t improve, or when he returns to playing and the problem comes back, then obviously he has to think about where he goes from there.”
It was first felt that Murray’s injury, which surfaced at November’s Davis Cup finals, was only minor.
But the three-time major winner sparked concern by withdrawing from the first grand slam of the year before revealing he would play no part in next month’s tournaments in Montpellier and Rotterdam.
And Stafford believes the
bone bruising is linked to Murray’s hip resurfacing surgery at the start of 2019.
“It is claimed that Andy’s hip implant has a better range of motion than a standard conventional replacement and it actually doesn’t,” said Stafford.
“One of the problems with it is that it has a reduced range of motion because you save the native neck of the femur just under the ball. That can dig into the prosthetic metal cup earlier than a normal hip replacement would.
“I am guessing the issue with Andy is that he is pushing a lot of force through the hip, and I imagine what is happening is that his native femoral neck is hitting up against the metal cup and causing a lot of bruising on the thigh bone.
“The problem is that over time the metal cup can carve a notch in the bone just under the ball, and if that carries on it can predispose the bone to breaking.
“If that is the case, he will have to change certain aspects of the way he moves, and getting down to the ball and things like that could become an issue. They are just waiting for the bruising to improve but that could take months.”
Speaking on Thursday, Murray, who won his first ATP title following hip surgery in Antwerp in October, said: “The bone bruising is taking longer to heal than first thought, so I won’t be playing in Montpellier or Rotterdam in February.
“I don’t want to rush anything or put a timeline on my recovery. I’m going to listen to my body and step back on the court to compete when the time is right.” Meanwhile, Heather Watson’s excellent run at the Hobart International came to an end with a semi-final defeat by third seed Elena Rybakina.
Watson began her campaign in qualifying and produced her best victory for two-and-ahalf years by beating top seed Elise Mertens in the last eight.
She gave Kazakh Rybakina a real battle as well but came up just short, losing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 after two hours and 16 minutes.
The run will see Watson climb from 101 in the rankings to 75 and she will head to
Melbourne, where she faces Kristyna Pliskova in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday, in good spirits.
Harriet Dart will join Watson in the main draw in Melbourne after she qualified with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Giulia Gattomonticone in the final round.
Britain’s top hope in the women’s singles will be Johanna Konta, who is fit to play but
has dealt a blow to GB’S Fed Cup chances by announcing she will not take part in the competition this year.
Konta has won her last 11 singles matches in Fed Cup, the most recent to help Britain to victory over Kazakhstan in April. That saw Britain promoted back to World Group level after 26 years, although a subsequent revamp means they must beat Slovakia in a play-off in Bratislava next month to book a spot at the inaugural finals week in April.
World No 13 Konta insisted she had the blessing of GB captain Anne Keothavong.
“I had a really good chat with Anne in November. It’s an Olympic year, I’m looking to schedule things slightly differently for the longevity of my body and to be able to come back in following years and hopefully play more Fed Cup.”
The 28-year-old struggled with a niggling knee problem for much of 2019, cutting short what had been a brilliant season after the US Open.
Britain’s fourth representative in Melbourne is Katie Boulter and she, too, may miss the Fed Cup play-off. Her win over Zarina Diyas clinched promotion but she injured her back and was out for six months. Boulter said: “I haven’t made a final decision. I’m trying to focus on Melbourne.”