Wimbledon Champion 2018

Andy Murray's powerful desire for his children to one day see him play tennis will help sustain him through the painful weeks recovering from hip surgery.

The twice Wimbledon champion underwent an operation on his right hip on Monday after six months out, which he hopes could see him back prior to Wimbledon.

But beyond that he wants to prolong his career far enough that daughter Sophia, who is nearly two, will be able to remember the sight of him in action.

'I have spoken to my wife a bit about it,' said Murray. 'One of the things that I would like to do is play until my eldest daughter is able to watch me and have a small understanding of what it is I've done for my living.

'That's one of the things that's motivated me to keep playing. That would be cool if she can come along and watch me hit some balls or practice just to see what it is I do. 

'I like seeing a lot of the other (players') kids when they are on tour with their parents, who get to do a bit of travelling with them when they're at an age when they actually understand a bit more about what it is that they're doing.

'Now I've had surgery and stuff, that's something I'm looking forward to in the future.

The 30-year-old Scot spoke of how his withdrawal from this month's events in Australia helped persuade him that he needed to have surgery after painstaking efforts at rehab had failed to yield the desired results.

Murray described the procedure, performed in Melbourne, as having gone 'very well' and, while there are no certainties, it offers the prospect of him being back hitting balls within two months.

'My plan is to be back playing around the grasscourt season – potentially before then, but I'm certainly not going to rush anything,' he said. 'I've been quoted times for how long it's taken for players to get back from the surgery I've had, and I've been given up to 14 weeks.

'I'm not going to put a date on it. I want to come back when I'm fit and ready to play, not to get into a situation like in Brisbane or New York (last year's US Open), where I'm unsure when I turn up at a tournament how fit I am. I want to know when I come back that I'm ready.'

Six days ago Murray tapped out a heartfelt message on Instagram following his withdrawal from Brisbane, pointing to his sense of inner hurt and turmoil. Last Thursday he pulled out of the Australian Open, and in the official accompanying statement said that 'I'll be flying home shortly to assess all the options.'

By then he had, in fact, made up his mind to undergo surgery performed by Melbourne-based specialist John O'Donnell, one of the leading hip experts he has been consulting since Wimbledon, and someone he has visited before on trips to Australia. He met with him rather than head straight home to England, and it was decided to operate.

Having imposed an almost total news blackout over the past two months, during which he postponed his planned early arrival in Australia and then made an unscheduled visit to Abu Dhabi, he was expansive in addressing what he feels have been misconceptions.

Murray poured forth a much sunnier update. He explained that the consensus view he had received since limping out of Wimbledon's quarter final was that it was worth trying to rehab the hip due to the uncertain outcome of surgery.

He did not feel there was any alternative but to pursue that option initially, but it appears the surgeon was happily surprised when he got a proper look inside the damaged area.

'When you look at my hip on an MRI scan just now, it doesn't look very good. Most tennis players' hips if you scanned them wouldn't look particularly good,' said Murray. 'The potential is that the time out is a long time and also there is a good chance you don't recover to a level to play tennis.

'When we discussed it with him, it was "look let's try to do as little as possible with the highest chance of success" but with the knowledge that when he goes in there if there's things he sees that need to be done he repairs and sorts them. That is what he did.'