Andy Murray’s cheeky dig at doctor who told him he won’t be able to play again – ‘We dispelled that myth’

Shahida Jacobs
Andy Murray in action
Andy Murray at the Australian Open

Back in 2017 Andy Murray was told that he “won’t be able to play professional sport again” if he gets his hip fixed, but six years later he is still competing and winning five-hour matches against the some of the world’s best players.

Former world No 1 Murray’s 2023 Australian Open journey came to an end on Saturday as he went down in four sets against Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round, but he has had a tournament to remember.

Murray and Bautista Agut slogged it out for three-and-a-half hours as the three-time Grand Slam winner total time on court over the three matches to over 14 hours as his win over 13th Matteo Berretteni was nearly five hours while the Thanasi Kokkinakis clash lasted five hours and 45 minutes.

It has been quite the effort for a player who was told six years ago that he might never play professional tennis again if he wanted to get his hip problem fixed.

Following his defeat to Bautista Agut, the 35-year-old Murray had a cheeky jibe at the person who gave him the prognosis in 2017.

“2 days ago I randomly bumped into the doctor who in 2017 told me ‘the good news is the problem you have in your hip can be fixed but you won’t be able to play professional sport again.’ I think we dispelled that myth the last 5 days.😉Goodnight ❤️” he wrote.

Following his glorious 2016 campaign that saw him win a second Wimbledon title, a second singles gold medal at the Rio Olympics and reach No 1 in the ATP Rankings for the first time, Murray’s injury woes became debilitating the following year.

After his Wimbledon title defence was ended in the quarter-final, he missed several weeks of action – including the US Open – during the latter half of the season and in January 2018 he underwent his first major hip operation, slumping to outside the top 800.

Although he returned ahead of the grass-court season, he missed Wimbledon as he was not yet 100% fit before making a comeback at the North American hard-court season.

However, his struggles continued and he underwent a second hip operation after his Australian Open exit in January 2019 with many believing at that stage he had announced his retirement during an emotional post-match presentation.

But he returned to professional tennis in June that year and nearly four years later he was back at the Australian Open, pulling off big wins over Berrettini and Kokkinakis.

Needless to say, Murray has proven the doctor wrong.

READ MORE: John McEnroe insists Andy Murray was hurt by late finish

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