The golden boy of British tennis, Andy Murray on Friday announced he would likely retire this year due to severe pain from a hip injury, saying next week’s Australian Open could be the last tournament of his career.
The three-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one broke down at a press conference in Melbourne as he said the pain had become almost unbearable.
The emotional Murray said “I can play with limitations. But having the limitations and the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing or training”.
The 31-year-old said he would like to finish at his home Grand Slam in Wimbledon, but admitted he might not make it that far.
“Wimbledon is where I would like to stop playing, but I am not certain I am able to do that,” he said. “I’ve been struggling for a long time. I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.
“Pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and it hasn’t helped loads.”
Murray will be remembered as the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years and as a player who battled his way to the top in a golden era of the game alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
He has been sidelined with a hip injury since late 2017 and only had a handful of appearances last year.
But he was knocked out in the second round on his return at Brisbane last week and called it quits on Thursday after less than an hour of a practice match in Melbourne against Novak Djokovic, with his movement clearly hindered.
“I think there is a chance the Australian Open is my last tournament,” he said.
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