Tearful Murray: Australian Open could be my last tournament
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA >> A tearful Andy Murray says the Australian Open could be his last tournament because of the hip injury that has derailed his career.
The 31-year-old Murray said he trained in the offseason with the main goal of making one last run at Wimbledon, where he ended the 77-year drought for British men, but now wasn’t sure he’d make it.
In an emotional news conference at Melbourne Park Friday, when he had to leave the room shortly after his first attempt to get it started, and needed to pause several times to compose himself after returning, Murray said he wasn’t sure how much longer he could play.
“I’m going to play (in Australia). I can still play to a level — not a level I’m happy playing at,” he said. “But also, it’s not just that. The pain is too much really,”
The three-time Grand Slam champion is scheduled to play his opening match against No. 22-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Open, where he has reached the final five times but never won the title. The season-opening major starts Monday.
Murray had right hip surgery in January 2018 after prolonged problems with the joint. After two brief attempts to return to the tour, he played only 12 matches last year.
He returned at the Brisbane International last week, where he won his opening match but lost in the second round to Daniil Medvedev, showing visible signs of limping between points and struggling to move around court smoothly.
Murray has had a celebrated
career, breaking long Grand Slam droughts for British men when he won the U.S. Open in 2012 and at Wimbledon the following year, and also becoming the only player to win consecutive singles gold medals at the Olympics.
Murray has been preparing for the 2019 season knowing that his career could be over within months. In his training program last month, he told his support group that the pain
was becoming too much and that he needed to set a date for retirement.
“I spoke to my team and I told that I can’t keep doing this, that I needed to have an end point because (I was) just playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop,” he said. “I said to my team ‘I think I can get through to Wimbledon’ ... that’s where I would like to stop playing. But I’m also not certain I’m able to do that.”