ANDY Murray has scheduled further meetings with his team in the next few days to decide which course of remedial action is best for his injured right hip.
It has emerged that the world No.1, who made sure to be in attendance at Wimbledon on Sunday night to spend time with his family and witness his brother Jamie collecting his second mixed doubles title here with partner Martina Hingis, made a flying visit to a clinic in Switzerland over the weekend for tests and expert opinion as he seeks to alleviate the discomfort caused by a long-standing joint problem which flared up with a vengeance after his run to the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
The 30-year-old, who appeared in significant pain during his five-set
quarter-final exit to American Sam Querrey, was said to be limping heavily as he left the complex carrying a racquet bag over his shoulder.
As soon as all the relevant test results and information has been collated and assessed, Murray tends to act swiftly and decisively when it comes to his body.
It is often forgotten that the Scot won his maiden Wimbledon title whilst effectively managing from a long-standing back problem, an issue he underwent surgery for just three months later in the immediate aftermath of a quarter-final exit to Stan Wawrinka at the US Open.
But of the options he has this time around, none would seem to be risk-free.
Potentially suffering from what one hip specialist estimated as dysplasia – a slightly shallow socket which will pre-dispose the joint to degenerate as he gets older – business as usual would seem the unlikeliest strategy of all, even if Murray appeared to moving freely at some stages of this competition and was only a set away on a couple of occasions against Querrey from reaching a semi-final against Marin Cilic.
A programme of rest, physiotherapy and potentially some officially-sanctioned targeted injections could be sufficient to allow the inflammation to go down and get the hip to respond in time for his next scheduled appearance, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, which starts on August 7.
He may feel a longer period of rest is required, although such an approach could leave him feeling under-cooked on the assumption he still feels fit to participate in the US Open. Going in for keyhole surgery now would definitely mean him missing Flushing Meadows, and wouldn’t be guaranteed to improve all his symptoms.
While delaying such an operation until after the US Open could be an option, it then threatens his participation in the ATP Tour Finals and his own Andy Murray Live charity event.
The nuclear option is the more invasive surgery it would take to fully correct the shallow hip socket, which would likely put an end to his professional tennis career.
For all the proclamations of doom, the Scot seemed upbeat enough this fortnight about coming back stronger than before.
“The US Open’s six, seven weeks away maybe,” he said. “Obviously as you get older, things are a little bit tougher to manage. There’s a bit more wear and tear there. I’ve managed to deal with it for a very long time. I’m sure moving forward I’ll be able to get through it.”
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