If Andy Murray is to make a successful comeback to the tennis tour, he will have done it the hard way. But then, that’s always been his way.

As gifted, if not more so, than most of his rivals, Murray reached the pinnacle of the sport through dedication, hard work and commitment.

His extraordinary work ethic helped him to three grand slam titles, two Olympic gold medals, a Davis Cup title and the world No.1 ranking, not to mention 45 singles titles in all.

The hours in the gym, on the track and on the court helped take Murray to the top, and even though he suspects some of his training methods may have contributed to his hip problems later in his career, it is that same ethic that may just get him back into the sport.

Five weeks after undergoing a resurfacing of his right hip – his second hip surgery in the space of a year – a delighted Murray said yesterday he was pain-free for the first time in almost two years.

His daily life, and his mental state, have been transformed and, having thought a couple of months ago that he may be done, he has genuine hope that his new metal hip may extend his career that little longer.

Whether that is at the top end of the sport or somewhere else remains to be seen, and Murray knows he may not even make it back.

But as he spoke yesterday about the possibility of playing at Wimbledon this summer, perhaps in doubles if he is not ready for singles, Murray gave an indication of what he’s going through in an effort to get back on court.

“Yesterday, for example, I did 45 minutes of my physio, I then did an hour in the swimming pool, I then did weights for an hour with 15-20 minutes of cardio on a bike and the cross-trainer, then I went home and I’ve got one of those AlterG machines at my house to help with my walking,” Murray told reporters at London’s Queen’s Club.

“I’ve been limping for 18 months and even now that I don’t have pain, when I walk now, my initial thought when I stand up from this chair will be to limp. So I need to work on that all the time. I’m doing [about] 40 minutes of walking each day on this machine which allows you to adjust your bodyweight, so I’m walking at like 85-90 per cent of my body weight now which is good. I’m walking quite well with that.

“Then I went back in the pool, did half hour in the pool and some more exercises for about 45 minutes or so to try to work on my range of motion. That’s the thing that’s hardest to get back if you leave that at the beginning and don’t take care of that. The strength I can build up over a longer period, but if I just sat and didn’t work on the range of motion, my hip would just stiffen up and everything around it. So I need to work on that quite a lot. That’s quite uncomfortable. The other stuff is actually okay but the range of motion is pretty uncomfortable.”

It will be another month before Murray attempts to hit tennis balls, without running around, and two and a half months before he is allowed to really start loading the joint.

As he said yesterday, progress is “slow”, but “pretty good” and after countless discussions with various surgeons and specialists, Murray is finally confident that the operation has been a success.

The operation was carried out by Sarah Muirhead-Allwood, at Princess Grace Hospital in London’s Marylebone, a choice he made because she didn’t promise him things she could not deliver.

“It just felt right having spoken to her,” he said. “I didn't want to be told: ' You're going to come back and win Wimbledon in five months, and it's going to be perfect,” because I know that it's not the case, and that nobody in their right mind could promise me that, because it's not been done before.

“She told me the truth, honestly how she felt about it. She didn't say to me, 'Never try and play again.' It was: 'Just be realistic and this might not work out. But what I can guarantee you is your pain will be gone.' And that's happened. That's why I went with her.”

In the past, Murray might have been trying to prove people wrong. This time it’s different.

“It's just tennis, it's something I love doing, I really enjoy it,” he said.

“If my hip allows me to do that – without pain – and I can still enjoy it then I'd like to try. But if I can't, then I can't and I'll be happy I'm not in pain every day.”