Andy Murray admits retirement fear as he returns to Australian Open

Andy Murray says he has no plans to retire from tennis just yet but admits if he suffered another major injury to his hip that would be the end of his career.

His comments come as he prepares to open his Australian Open campaign against Nikoloz Basilashvili in the early hours of Tuesday morning for British fans.

The 34-year-old returns to Australian Open for the first time since 2019, a tournament he’s reached the final of five times but never won, and also the place he gave an emotional press conference announcing his retirement.

By the start of 2019, Murray had endured severe problems and pain with his left hip for two years.

Before the tournament began he suggested retirement appeared to be on the horizon and after a first-round defeat against Roberto Bautista Agut, it looked to be the last we’d seen of the three-time Grand Slam champion.

Murray has since bounced back though after hip surgeries and although far from his best there is still hope he can go deep in the first Grand Slam of the year.

The good news for tennis fans is Murray has confirmed retirement is not on his mind this time round.

‘There’s been times when I’ve thought like: ‘How do you know when the right time to finish is?’ And obviously at that moment for me (in 2019), I wanted to stop because I wasn’t enjoying it. And I was in lots of pain. And that’s why I decided to stop playing,’ he said.

‘Some people want to stop when they have a great result, or they want to stop at their home tournament, or they just don’t enjoy traveling, or they have different priorities.

‘There’s there’s many different reasons for where and why people might stop. And for me, it is becoming harder leaving the family.

‘Obviously, if I had another injury…