The greatest tennis player in British history, Andy Murray, has decided to retire at the age of 31.

On the afternoon of January 11, Andy Murray had a shocking press conference in Melbourne when he announced his retirement from tennis. The UK’s greatest tennis player came to this decision because his hip injury was too severe and could not fully recover. The 2019 Australian Open, which opens on January 13, could be Murray’s last major tournament.

Sharing with the press in tears, Murray said: “I have been struggling with injuries for a long time and have endured pain for 20 months now. I have tried many ways to treat it but to no avail. Now I feel better than I did 6 months ago, but there’s still a lot of pain.”

“I will play in the Australian Open. I can still play tennis at a certain level, but it’s definitely not at a level where I’m happy.”

“There’s more. The pain was too much and I didn’t want to continue playing tennis like that. I tried many ways but couldn’t feel as comfortable as usual. Last December, I told the team members and they said I couldn’t continue playing anymore.” “I thought it was time for me to finish, because I played without knowing when the pain would end. I told the team that I wanted to push through the pain until Wimbledon. That’s where I want to end my career, but I’m not sure if I can do it.”
Besides, Murray revealed that he always has pain when bending over to put on socks and shoes. This 31-year-old tennis player is considering hip replacement surgery to have a better life.

Murray added: “I’m not sure if I’ll be through the pain for the next four or five months. I am considering having another surgery, which would reconstruct my hip and give me a better life. I’m seriously considering it, but nothing has been decided yet. It would be great to do everything without any pain.” Because of a hip injury, Murray had to drop out of the 2017 French Open. Since then, he has stopped playing to focus on treatment. Last year, Murray had hip surgery but his injury did not progress particularly well. This player’s position has dropped to 230th on the ATP rankings, lower than Vietnam’s Ly Hoang Nam. Before struggling with injury, Murray was ranked No. 1 in the world. He is the most successful tennis player in UK history with 3 Grand Slams (Wimbledon 2013, 2016; US Open 2012) and 42 different major and minor titles. These successes helped Murray be awarded the title Sir by the British Royal Family.