MURRAY MAY BE BACK AT OZ OPEN

AN emotional and drained Andy Murray left open the door to a return to Melbourne Park after falling to Roberto Bautista Agut in a gut-wrenching, five-set epic in the first round of the Australian Open yesterday.

Having said the tournament could be his last as a professional due to his painful hip, Murray, pictured, played as if it was indeed his swansong, rallying from two sets down before being denied 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(4) 6-2 under the lights at a heaving Melbourne Arena.

The former world number one whipped the terraces into a frenzy as he pushed the match into a deciding fifth set, then left fans with hope he might eventually produce an Australian encore.

“Maybe I’ll see you again, I’ll do everything possible to try,” the three-time grand slam champion said on court with a quavery voice.

“If I want to go again, I’ll need to have a big operation, which there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to come back from... but I’ll give it my best shot.”

Murray now faces a Sophie’s choice: to live with severe pain until his hoped-for farewell at Wimbledon or to undertake another round of major surgery.

The operation might improve his quality of life, but also end his hopes of ever playing again.

He said he would make a decision within the week.

“But that’s what I was saying the other day, that this might be my last match,” he told reporters. “If I go ahead with the operation, I don’t recover well from it, then I don’t play again. I’m aware of that.”