Former World No. 1 Andy Murray could be back in action in six-months if he decides to have keyhole surgery on his troublesome hip, Briton’s top hip specialist has claimed.
Triple Grand Slam winner Murray was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open on Thursday after he realized he wasn’t yet ready to compete in the competition. With his struggles mounting, the tennis fraternity is worried about his future. The two-time Wimbledon champion said surgery is one of the options to fix the issue which has bothered him since the 2017 French Open and now a leading Manchester surgeon has declared that the Dunblane native’s problem was certainly resolvable through surgery.
There were underlying concerns that a failed hip surgery, could end Murray’s career, but Professor Max Fehily – the renowned hip specialist at The Manchester Hip Clinic is not buying that argument and in fact is really confident about Murray’s chances of making a complete recovery.
“As I understand, he’s got a condition called femoroacetabular impingement, which is very common in athletes,” Fehily said.
“We see a lot of it in football, rugby, squash, tennis, and essentially it’s where the ball of the hip impacts against the cup.
“One of the problems with athletes is, as it impacts repeatedly, eventually it can damage or tear the labrum, but it can also eventually start to cause arthritis.
“Everybody’s on a spectrum, with one end being just a cartilage tear and the other end being significant joint surface damage.”
However, Fehily is almost certain that Murray could be back on the court in six-months because the 30-year-old has been under treatment for the problem for quite some time now.
“He’ll have had the best physio and body strengthening you can have, so then the next step is surgery,” he added.
“In a way I’m surprised he’s left it this long because it’s very difficult to perform at his level with that kind of an injury.
“Recovery from keyhole surgery, you’re looking at realistically six to 12 months before you’re back at top level.
“He’ll have done a lot of work pre-surgery to make him stronger and that will speed up his recovery.
“Based on what’s in the public domain, there’s no reason why he can’t return to his previous level.
“But it will all depend on how much damage is already there.”
