Andy Murray faces a make-or-break meeting to decide if he can salvage the last tennis season of his career.
The i reports that the 36-year-old has today met with a specialist in London after he picked up a serious ankle injury in Miami last weekend.
Murray revealed that he tore two ligaments in his left ankle on Sunday night, his anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL), as he lost to Czech Republic's Tomas Machac.
The Scottish hero was understandably emotional as he walked off court, as he's made no secret about his career coming to a close this year, presumably after Wimbledon.
However, this latest injury could put his participation at the All-England Club in doubt, with keyhole surgery seemingly the likely solution to his ankle problem.
The report states that recovery periods can vary from six weeks up to 12 months, so Murray's future will require serious consideration from the player himself, as well as his consultants and family.
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Despite the news of his injury being potentially career-ending, Murray is thankfully believed to be bullish about the prospect of his recovery, so he could well be back by the end of April and things could be a lot brighter than the nightmare scenario of a year out of action.
According to Murray, he suffered a “full rupture of my ATFL” and a “near full thickness rupture of my CFL”, ligaments that control the stability of the ankle joint.
Suresh Chandrashekar, consultant foot and ankle surgeon at London Sports Orthopaedics, said: “These ligaments protect the ankle from pivoting in a planted motion, or when the heel is pointing down.
“The CFL is a ligament which is actually more to do with the stability of the hind foot or the heel, so when the heel is actually planted, what happens to the rest of the ankle on top of it. Whereas the ATFL is more responsive for balancing on point and the ankle rolling or giving way.”
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