Murray fights pain to return for Brisbane International
Andy Murray says that he is "in a better place" with his long-standing hip injury, but that he is still unable to play pain-free.
Speaking in Brisbane, where he will make his return to competitive tennis next week ahead of -January's Australian Open, Murray said on Thursday that he will only know how close he is to a full recovery once he starts playing matches again.
"I still have some pain in my hip, but I need to play matches and see how it feels when I am able to play three, four, five matches in a row, and take it from there," Murray said.
"Last year when I came here it was tough, I was struggling quite a lot. It definitely feels a bit better than it did coming here last year. I've always loved playing here. I'm in a better place than I was a few months ago."
As well as marking Murray's first tournament since shutting down his 2018 season in September, Brisbane has added poignancy after the events of 12 months ago.
On that occasion, the Scot arrived in Australia hoping to make a comeback having not competed since July 2017, but was forced to skip the event and then the Australian Open to undergo hip surgery in Melbourne instead.
Murray's morale had plummeted to such an extent that he shared a picture of himself as a child with the caption: "I chose this pic as the little kid inside me who just wants to play tennis and compete.
"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. It's quite demoralising."
There is still a huge amount of uncertainty around Murray's future, but he has at least made some progress over the past year.
After returning at Queen's in June, Murray ended 2018 having competed in six tournaments and posted a win-loss record of 7-5.
Now a lowly No.256 in the world, Murray will be in the Brisbane International main draw, which starts on Monday, on the basis of his injury-protected ranking of No.2.
However, the lack of a seeding means he could draw Rafael Nadal, Alex de Minaur or Nick Kyrgios in the early rounds.
Murray will hope for a kind draw, with the priority to get matches under his belt.
When asked what his aims were for the next few weeks in Australia, he said: "I would just like to get through the tournaments and feel like I am able to compete and not be restricted by my hip."
He began his preparations yesterday by practising with the US Open champion, Naomi Osaka.
He shared a video on Instagram of the pair trading shots, and wrote in a separate post: "Thanks for the hit today @naomiosakatennis I think you missed about 2 balls in 30 minutes... and also for the advice on Japanese."
Osaka joked on her Instagram page: "I don't know why you let me hit with you but thank you!"
Telegraph, London