Murray pulls out of Australian Open

Former world No 1 Andy Murray has pulled out of the Australian Open after failing to recover from a hip injury, tournament organisers said Thursday. The three-time grand slam winner has not played a competitive match since Wimbledon last July and despite coming through a one-set exhibition in Abu Dhabi last week, the Briton has decided to focus on rehabilitation. "Sadly I won't be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not yet ready to compete," Murray, a five-time Australian Open runner-up, said in a statement. "I'll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back playing soon."

Hey everyone.. Just wanted to write a little message on here for anyone interested in what in going through right now. Firstly I want to apologise to @brisbanetennis for withdrawing at late notice and to everyone who wanted to come along to watch me play(or lose?) The organisers couldn't have been more understanding and supportive and I'll always remember that. Thank you. I've obviously been going through a really difficult period with my hip for a long time and have sought council from a number of hip specialists. Having been recommended to treat my hip conservatively since the US Open I have done everything asked of me from a rehab perspective and worked extremely hard to try get back on the court competing. Having played practice sets here in Brisbane with some top players unfortunately this hasn't worked yet to get me to the level I would like so I have to reassess my options. Obviously continuing rehab is one option and giving my hip more time to recover. Surgery is also an option but the chances of a successful outcome are not as I high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that. However this is something I may have to consider but let's hope not. I choose this pic as the little kid inside me just wants to play tennis and Compete.. I genuinely miss it so much and 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. Everytime I wake up from sleeping or napping i hope that it's better and it's quite demoralising when you get on the court it's not at the level you need it to be to compete at this level. In the short term I'm going to be staying in Australia for the next couple of days to see if my hip settles down a bit and will decide by the weekend whether to stay out here or fly home to assess what I do next. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to keep everyone in the loop and get this off my chest as it's really hurting inside. Hope to see you back on the court soon ??❤️

A post shared by Andy Murray (@andymurray) on Jan 2, 2018 at 1:23am PST

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said: "We are fully aware that Andy has been going through a difficult period with his hip and that he's done everything possible to prepare for the Australian summer. "Personally, I also know that Andy loves tennis and would do anything to play. This is a very hard decision for Andy and we totally respect it." Murray has slipped to 16th in the world ranking since being beaten by American Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-final. The 30-year-old Briton attempted a comeback at the US Open in August but was forced to withdraw two days before the start of the tournament.

Andy Murray, who has not played competitively since July because of a hip injury, has withdrawn from the Australian Open https://t.co/WBq5DvXshh pic.twitter.com/fUJKP4qKI1

— CNN International (@cnni) January 4, 2018

Another former world number one, Novak Djokovic, faces a race against time to recover from an elbow injury after pulling out of the Qatar Open. Tiley confirmed both Djokovic and current world No 1 Rafael Nadal, who is recovering from a knee injury, will be ready for the first grand slam of the year starting on Jan. 15. "I spoke to Novak. He’s already got every hour of the day planned between when he arrives and the start of the Australian Open. He’ll be ready," Tiley said. "(Rafa’s) on his way down here now so he’ll be ready. It’s not dissimilar from last year...Last year we were talking about the health of Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams and two weeks later they were playing each other in the final."