Andy Murray: Pain free but ready for a comeback?

Just a few short months ago, Andy Murray sat in a press conference in Melbourne. With tears in his eyes, he said that the pain had become too much and by the end of the year, his illustrious career would be over.

The next day, Murray showed the fighting spirit that took him to the top of the sport in a thrilling, 5-set defeat to Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut. After the match, a video with a number of top players praising the former number one was played to him on court. If Murray ever wondered what his own funeral would be like this would give him some idea.

Fast forward to last week and Murray stood at the site of five of his 45 career titles, Queen’s Club in London, with a more positive outlook on his career.

After having undergone hip surgery at the end of January, Murray declared that he is pain free and considering a comeback.

Murray told the BBC, “I have to wait and see. I'm not allowed to start doing any high-impact movement for the first four months after the surgery and it is only then when I can see if I can compete at any level,".

"Whether that is competing in the top 10 in the world, that is probably unlikely, but could I get to top 50, top 100 level? That may be possible.”

That is the key point in Murray’s comeback whether he will be able to recapture the achievements that have led him to be one of the greatest Scottish athletes of his or any generation.

Murray has stated in the past that the main goal of his surgery was to relieve him of the pain that he was suffering from in daily life and that anything beyond that would be a bonus.

Now that he has said he is pain free, it remains to be seen whether he makes a comeback to tennis but there aren’t many precedents for having major hip surgery and coming back to the top to the game.

The foremost example of this is the doubles player, Bob Bryan, who along with his brother Mike are one of the most successful doubles teams of all time. He had a very similar procedure to Murray and was back on court within five months of his surgery and encouraged the Scot to follow his lead.

The key difference between the two cases is the physical toll that is exerted in singles and doubles. It is not out of the question for Murray to compete in doubles, if he felt that he couldn't compete a high level in singles, most likely alongside his brother, Jamie.

It is yet to be seen whether Murray would be happy with a comeback that would see him become a player that isn’t near the top of the sport, but it is obvious that Murray still has an unquenchable passion for the sport.