World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is a true gentleman, on and off the court. The Spaniard was the first to send a message of support to two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who revealed the full extent of his ongoing troubles with a hip injury.
Nadal, the current French and the US Open has struggled with multiple injuries throughout his career – knee, back, wrist and foot. And he is currently battling a right knee injury, which forced him to pull out of the ATP Finals in November before he withdrew from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi after Christmas and the Brisbane International on Monday.
Murray on the other hand hasn’t played a competitive match since losing to Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The triple Grand Slam champion did take part in an exhibition in the UAE but lost to 6-2 to Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Even though he participated in the event, he was seen limping on the court.
In fact, many former greats, including 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash were worried about his future. Their worst fears indeed proved to be right as after pulling out of the tournament in Brisbane, Murray took to Instagram to reveal the exact extent of his injury. Revealing the immense pain and suffering he has endured ever since his hip problem aggravated in the spring of 2017, Andy said: “I’ve obviously been going through a really difficult period with my hip for a long time and have sought counsel from a number of hip specialists.”
“Having been recommended to treat my hip conservatively since the US Open I have done everything asked of me from a rehab perspective and worked extremely hard to try and get back on the court competing.”
“Having played practice sets here in Brisbane with some top players unfortunately this hasn’t worked yet to get me to the level I would like so I have to reassess my options.”
“Obviously continuing rehab is one option and giving my hip more time to recover,” Murray wrote in an Instagram post. “Surgery is also an option but the chances of a successful outcome are not as high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that.”
Nadal, a close friend of Murray was the first to send a message of support to the 30-year-old from Dunblane.
He commented: “Andy, we miss you and we hope to see you back soon! Get well my friend!”
