“Sadly I won’t be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete,” Murray said. “I’ll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back playing soon.”

As Murray embarks on the journey home, he will no doubt be wondering if his career is fated to go the same way as those of Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Greg Rusedski and many others who were either forced to quit or left depleted by serious hip injuries.

“Everything in tennis goes through the hip – loading, running, speed, turning, everything,” explained British No2 Kyle Edmund. “It’s a shame because Andy is only 30 and you see what Roger Federer is doing at 36. He has potentially got more years in him.”

Edmund provided more positive news for British tennis, battling into the Brisbane International quarter-finals with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 win over rising Korean star Hyeon Chung. Edmund thought he had blown his chances after missing two match points when leading 5-3 in the second set, but hung on grimly to pull through the decider.

“He got a lot of momentum at the end of the second and broke me twice pretty quickly,” Edmund said. “It was tough. You look back and think, ‘I could be in the locker room by now’.

“It just shows that every point is vital. In the third I had to really try and step up the intensity and energy and put some pressure on him.”

However, the curse currently lingering over the hips of Britain’s leading tennis players struck again to leave Johanna Konta with her own injury woes ahead of the Australian Open.

Konta had begun brilliantly in her quarter-final against world No6 Elina Svitolina, striking the ball sweetly in a near flawless opening set. However Svitolina battled back and was leading 1-6, 7-6, 3-2 when Konta felt a sharp pain in her right hip and opted to withdraw.

After the match, Konta appeared more cautious than concerned and even said she still hopes to defend her title in Sydney next week.

“Hopefully it’s nothing more than a low-grade strain and muscle spasm more than anything,” she said. “Hips take a massive beating in our game, as it’s becoming more and more physical week in week out due to the level of play. We get all sorts of injuries, everything from overuse to accidents on court. I’ll have a scan and hopefully it’ll be okay.”