Andy Murray Undergoes Hip Surgery, Will He Return?

Hope Andy has full and quick recovery. When you’re living in pain and you happen to be as financially secure as I imagine Andy is, tennis likely takes a back seat. The objective at this point really is to have a life without chronic hip pain. If his recovery is strong and his doctors tell him that he can return to tennis without jeopardizing his “after tennis” life, I’m sure he’ll be back.

It’s obviously difficult to be forced out of the sport on terms that are not your own but it’s better to be healthy and pain free for the rest of your life than to jeopardize the rest of your life over a few more trophies.

Andy is a great player. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. He really doesn’t have anything left to prove other than perhaps to himself.

January 29th, 2019 at 12:43 pm

I wonder if Mike Webster would have traded in all his SB rings to have his mind and his life back after football. My personal belief is that he would have.

January 29th, 2019 at 12:45 pm

I wish Any speedy recovery!

January 29th, 2019 at 1:24 pm

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

January 29th, 2019 at 2:04 pm

Good luck Andy.

January 30th, 2019 at 2:36 am

It would be quite funny and awkward if Murray comes back after all his fellows said goodbye.

Partly Murrays fault. Shouldnt have called that special conference when he wasnt clear about retirement at all.

January 30th, 2019 at 5:37 am

Doubles requires more diversity of movement, so disagree there. Andy should be fine, hip replacements are more common now. If not for his age I would have bet he’d be back up in no time competing. But he’s not 25. Plus this new age of tennis on tour is super demanding. Guys are wearing ankle braces with no ankle issues. Go figure.
All the best Mr. Murray👍

January 30th, 2019 at 8:33 am

Can’t wait to know Andy’s progress in coming weeks,months…Hopefully we will hear only a good news…

Speedy recovery Andy!!

January 30th, 2019 at 9:37 am

Margot and J-Kath,

He is smiling! What a relief – and I send you both (and Andy) my best wishes!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/46916064

If the Bryans can do it, then never, ever give up hope!

January 30th, 2019 at 2:32 pm

Hope Andy can at least play Wimbledon and close out his career on a good note.

January 31st, 2019 at 6:51 am

Unbelievable if he could come back at this point.

January 31st, 2019 at 10:20 am

Bob Bryan is playing with a steel hip. Andy won’t win another grand slam but a farewell tournament or two is possible.

January 31st, 2019 at 1:49 pm

This trend of baseliners needing knee and hip surgery is worrisome, sort of like all the impacts and concussions setting US football players up for back, joint, brain function issues. The serious medical issues active and retired players are having could force change to pro tennis play. Andre Agassi, another on a long list of those males requiring hip replacement, said in 2018 that besides Andy, Rafa for many years “has been writing checks his body can’t cash and make good on”. He thought Federer might escape hip woes, Djokovic as well, even if Djokovic is a grinder.

And most serve and volley players miss the hip damage and players back in the day of wood rackets, grass courts are not seeing the issues as they age like the modern steel and graphite racket users are.

Its all rooted in KE=mv^2/2, which must be dissipated in muscle and joint elasticity, in sideways motion ending in sudden stops, and the less kinetic cycles the better. Less mass and velocity the better (fortunate for the women). Federer is 15-20 lbs less than Murray or Nadal, for example, and not as fast, and he also tries to shorten points to lessen wear and tear. Federer is naturally graceful and light of foot, while Murray and Nadal pound each step.

It will be interesting to see how Djokovic fares. He is a “special case” in kinesiology. Definitely a baseliner that for a good part of his career believed why try to end a point in 5 shots when 20 will do? But light of foot, even less mass than Federer, unusual flexibility he incorporates into his motions as second nature, with far more yield to joints and muscles without damage. Most important, his sliding style. His sliding both greatly lessens energy in joules per 1/10 sec unit time on his hips, knees, lower back and ankles – as well as transferring a considerable part of that energy into heat friction on his shoe soles and heat onto any playing surface.

On Andy: I want to do a separate posting. Luckily Murray has good people around him, and has no need to go for opinions elsewhere from sports writes or fans on the matter. Yet fans want their two cents tossed in or they wouldn’t be fans!

January 31st, 2019 at 3:54 pm

Chrisford 1: Nothing wrong with your posting. But there have been 3 very positive Andy fans posting for some time on TX –
as one of them I don’t want Andy to play again. I want some sort of British tribute to him at Wimbledon but don’t want him to play again…not ever and especially not there.

January 31st, 2019 at 4:05 pm

Connors had 3 HR’s. Can’t find where Agassi has had a hip replacement? His back was the reason his career ended.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/02/jimmy-connors-says-hes-done-playing-tennis-in-public/54019/

January 31st, 2019 at 5:53 pm

I incline to your position J-Kath.
But with a caveat.

The facts are that Andy has had foot problems, he wears ankle braces due to past ligament tears, he has a split patella in his right knee which affects side load bearing putting more impact force on his right hip. He has had back surgery but still gets some pain at times, supposedly. He favors the right hip if he resums playing tennis Andy-style, he will naturally try shifting the forces to his knee or lower back. I believe you have to add his other medical issues to the risk, besides to his hip, of hitting him again if he plays full force tennis for any length of time.

But the caveat is he will have ten weeks for muscles and other things to mend up for recovery from surgery. The clay season will have started and he turns 32 in May. He would have no time to train and practice before the FO starts March 26 and try for a wildcard. It is quite conceivable he could get enough practice to go into Wimbledon with a wild card. That way he could get his last hurrahs in at home and in the place of his 3 greatest feats, as well as the place the Murrays got through France and into the semis of the winning 2015 Davis Cup.

Beyond that, though, I hope he retires from tennis. He doesn’t need the money. With 150 million earned and several million coming in on a return on investment, and with marketers thinking he will always have endorsements as “famous, honest, dry-witted regular guy” Andy. If he wants to compete, he can try his hand at several low impact sports.He has lots of time to get really good in one – cycling, curling, table tennis, etc. Be a coach or instructor at times as his Mom is. But he likely has 50 years or more left, and it would totally suck if he insists on playing tennis until he is 36-37 and ends up crippled and in pain those 50 years.

Note: Based on his X-Ray, another highly unlikely interim career option might be as a porn star. It seems that in one metric, Andy may well be the biggest of the Big 4!

January 31st, 2019 at 8:41 pm

Chrisford 1:

Thanks for your response…much of which I’ll digest for a while. But as for your “Note” – I was so tempted to post one of the nwsp. articles on that subject including Andy’s response…but persuaded myself not to. You have done so with style (and gave me hoots of laughs). PS: You should send your “Note” to Andy – he’d love it!

February 1st, 2019 at 5:33 am

Best of luck Andy whatever happens :-)

February 1st, 2019 at 1:15 pm