Andy Murray’s Australian Open Is in Doubt Because of Lingering Hip Problem

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BRISBANE, Australia — As a new tennis season dawns, the comeback prospects for the bevy of injured stars on the men’s tour appear dim.

Andy Murray, who began last season at No. 1, withdrew from the Brisbane International on Tuesday evening, citing his persistent right hip injury.

“I came here with every intention of making a strong start to the year, but sadly my team and I don’t feel that I’m where I need to be just yet to compete at the highest level,” he said in a statement issued by the tournament.

Murray, 30, has not played a match since the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July. He traveled to New York in August, holding onto a sliver of hope that he would be able to compete at the United States Open, but withdrew two days before the tournament.

Murray took to Instagram to articulate his mounting disappointment, posting a lengthy message with a photo of himself as a young child.

“I choose this pic as the little kid inside me just wants to play tennis and Compete,” he wrote. “I genuinely miss it so much and i would give anything to be back out there. I didn’t realise until these last few months just how much I love this game. Everytime I wake up from sleeping or napping i hope that it’s better and it’s quite demoralising when you get on the court it’s not at the level you need it to be to compete at this level.”

Murray did not rule out playing the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 15. He said he would stay in Australia to see if his injury “settles down a bit,” adding that he would decide by the weekend whether to stay in Australia or to return home.

Murray, who has been committed to a rehabilitation program after consultations with several doctors, also mentioned surgery as an option for the first time.

“The chances of a successful outcome are not as I high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that,” he wrote on Instagram. “However this is something I may have to consider but let’s hope not.”

Before his withdrawal, Murray had said he was ready to settle for less than his best if need be.

“I just want to be able to play tennis,” he said in a news conference on Sunday. “I don’t mind if it’s No. 30-in-the-world level. I would love it to be No. 1-in-the-world level, but I just want to play. When that’s kind of taken away from you, you know, you kind of realize how important it is.”

Murray is not alone in being plagued by an injury. The other four men who started 2017 ranked in the top five — Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori — were also forced to abbreviate their seasons. None played the United States Open, and only Raonic played a tournament after it, retiring one game into his second match in Tokyo.

Because of a lingering elbow injury, Djokovic withdrew from an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi as well as a tournament this week in Doha, Qatar. Nishikori, also struggling with his right wrist, pulled out of Brisbane and next week’s tournament in Sydney. Wawrinka, who is managing a chronic knee injury, did not enter any warm-up tournaments.

All five are still entered in the Australian Open, but only Raonic is scheduled to play a warm-up tournament, with his first match in Brisbane set for Wednesday.

Raonic said he thought the casualties among elite players were possibly coincidental, but did point to correlation between injury and the previous year’s workload.

“If you look at it from just a purely numbers standpoint, you see the guys that play a lot the year before, a lot of matches — 65-plus, maybe even over 70 matches — those guys struggle the following year,” Raonic said.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who played a full schedule last year after an injury-shortened 2016 season, withdrew from Brisbane before the draw was made.

Second-ranked Roger Federer, the defending champion in Melbourne, appears healthy and is competing this week at the Hopman Cup exhibition in Perth. Federer, 36, played only 12 tournaments last year, compared to Nadal’s 18.

The women’s draw in Melbourne has its own uncertainties. Serena Williams came off maternity leave to play a lucrative exhibition match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, but it is unknown if she will travel to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open title.

The two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka has received a wild card into the tournament, but is doubtful to participate because she has been unwilling to travel without her 1-year-old son, Leo, during a custody dispute with the boy’s father.