ATP: Murray before return: “Was at an all-time low”

Andy Murray spoke about his long injury break before his comeback on the ATP tour. During the grass court tournament at London’s Queen’s Club, he declared his despair during his time-out and why he did not allow his private life to suffer from the injury.

In a column for the BBC, Murray, who starts off in London with Nick Kyrgios, described why hip surgery was inevitable and that he was surprised at the pain after the procedure.

Andy Murray about …

… His motivation to be a tennis player: “I didn’t start playing tennis to win Wimbledon and become the world’s number one. I played tennis because I loved it and will love this sport throughout my career. Many people might say,’Oh, you’re doing so well’, and that’s true – I’m very lucky that tennis is my profession. But if you haven’t done anything else since you were a child and can’t do what you love for a year, it’s hard for you. “This is the lowest point of a professional career.”

… the decision to undergo surgery: “I never really gave my hip a chance to recover fully. At the US Open I really wanted to play, but that was a mistake. Since then, I’ve done exactly what my doctors tell me. As I was preparing for Australia, I still felt uncomfortable on the pitch because I couldn’t take with me the good feeling I had in the training room. No athlete wants to have surgery, you always try to avoid it. But that was the advice of my doctors.”

… the phase after the operation: “I actually had relatively little pain. Medicine is so advanced, it only took a small cut. I was on crutches for two days, and then I was on my feet again. After ten days I was back on my bike, so I didn’t lose too much muscle mass.”

… After the operation, I spent some time with my mother and my team. When I got back home, I tried that the injury had as little impact as possible on my family life. I wish I could tell how many serial marathons I put in, but that wasn’t the case. “I spent six to eight hours a day in rehab, and that was incredibly boring.”