Andy Murray operation: Chances of playing elite tennis again 'slim' after surgery, says top doctor

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15 January 2019

Andy Murray’s chances of playing top-level tennis after another hip operation are no better than “slim”, according to one of the world’s leading sports physicians.

Dr Peter Brukner, a former doctor for the Australia cricket team who previously worked for Liverpool as head of sports medicine, said today that the “resurfacing” hip operation which Murray is contemplating should relieve his pain but is unlikely to enable him to compete amongst the elite again.

“I’m not sure his hip would cope with doing the level of training and playing that would be required to get back to the level where he was,” Dr Brukner said. “I would seriously doubt that, but that’s not to say that he won’t have a crack at it. I would say his chances of resuming at that level again are fairly slim.”

Murray, 31, expects to make a decision about his immediate future within the next week, following his five-set, first-round defeat here yesterday.

He had originally hoped to make this summer’s Wimbledon his farewell tournament and was prepared to take another break before preparing for the grass-court season. The former world No1 is also considering having the surgery, which should improve his quality of life, but would probably herald the end of his career.

“I don’t really know yet,” said Murray, who plans to fly home tomorrow. “If I go ahead with the operation and I don’t recover well from it, then I don’t play again. I’m aware of that. That is the decision that I have to make.”

Bob Bryan, the American doubles player, had the same operation five months ago and is back competing here, but very few athletes across any sports have made successful returns following the surgery.

The operation which Murray had here 12 months ago attempted to repair damage to the lining of his right hip joint, but Dr Brukner is not surprised that the Scot is still suffering.

“Andy Murray is a classic example of somebody who probably thought he would have this operation and everything would be fine, but it’s not that simple,” he said. “You can try to reduce the damage, but once you’ve damaged that lining of the joint you’re heading downhill. The only question is how rapidly you go downhill. You’ll usually finish up with arthritis. It’s just a matter of whether that happens.

In Pictures | Australian Open Tennis 2019

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“[The resurfacing surgery] takes away the pain. That’s what appears to be driving Andy Murray now.

“He seems literally to be at the stage where he just wants to get rid of the pain, which is constant. [Rehab] requires a minimum of three months and it’s probably more like six months before you can properly get back to any sort of serious sporting activity.”

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