Andy Murray is waiting to discover whether he will have a chance to finish his career in the manner he wants at Wimbledon this summer, yet tennis legend Martina Navratilova has cast a huge doubt over his hopes.
Murray is likely to have to wait several days to learn how long he will be sidelined for by the ankle injury he suffered in Miami, amid suggestions that he may be forced to undergo surgery to recover from his injury hammer blow.
The Scot cried out in pain and fell to the floor late on in his third-round defeat by Tomas Machac at the Miami Open on Sunday after hurting his left ankle.
Andy Murray was able to complete the match after on-court treatment but revealed in an Instagram post on Monday that he had seriously damaged two ligaments and would be out for an “extended period”.
The 36-year-old has now headed home but the PA news agency understands swelling in the joint means Murray must wait before consulting specialists for further assessment.
It is less than 10 weeks until the start of the British grass-court season and just over three months until Wimbledon, where Murray had planned to play for the final time before retirement.
He has also targeted a final Olympic appearance in Paris but all those could depend on whether he needs an operation or if non-surgical measures will suffice.
It is cruel timing for the three-time grand slam champion, who had won back-to-back matches for the first time this year in Miami and looked to have turned a corner after a difficult spell where he admitted he was not enjoying tennis.
Having battled for years to recover fully from the hip problems that surfaced in 2017 and resulted in two major operations, Murray previously said he would probably not attempt to come back from another serious injury.
But his Instagram post ended on a typically defiant note, with the former world No 1 writing: “Yesterday towards the end of my match in Miami I suffered a full rupture of my ATFL (Anterior Talo-Fubular ligament) and near full thickness rupture of my CFL (Calcaneofibular ligament).
“I will see an ankle specialist when I return home to determine next steps. Goes without saying this is a tough one to take and I’ll be out for an extended period. But I’ll be back with 1 hip and no ankle ligaments when the time is right.”
Andy Murray’s enduring optimism has fired his ambitions in the years since he had a metal hip fitted, but nine-time Wimbledon champion Navratilova is struggling to share the Scot’s optimism.
“I’ve sprained my ankle badly but I’ve never ripped a ligament. It’s going to take a while. Time is not on his side. It doesn’t look good,” Navratilova told Sky Sports Tennis.
“I don’t know how you can recover well enough to feel stable and not hurt other body parts and to get back into this kind of playing shape.
“It’s tragic and he’s been through so much. I’m wishing him the best but it’s not looking good.”
Andy Murray was widely expected to target Wimbledon in July as a potential tournament to bring down the curtain on his career and he may have to revise that ambition if he needs to undergo surgery to repair the damage to his ankle.
The two-time Wimbledon champion will not want his career to end on this low note, but the work he will need to do to get back in shape to perform on English grass courts this summer may be a step to far for this defiant champion.
