Injured Murray 'gutted' to miss Australian Open

Andy Murray has withdrawn from next month's Australian Open because of a pelvic injury, the three-time Grand Slam champion's management team announced on Saturday.

The former world No 1, who has been making an inspirational comeback after hip resurfacing surgery, has decided not to travel to Melbourne after the injury he sustained at the end of the season failed to improve as he had hoped.

Murray, who has been able to train on court this week, will miss the Jan 20-Feb 2 Grand Slam where he has been a five-time losing finalist and will also not play for Britain in the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia, starting on Jan 3.

"I've worked so hard to get myself into a situation where I can play at the top level and I'm gutted I'm not going to be able to play in Australia in January," Murray said on Saturday.

"After the AO(Australian Open) this year, when I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to play again, I was excited about coming back to Australia and giving my best, and that makes this even more disappointing for me.

"Unfortunately I've had a setback recently and as a precaution, need to work through that before I get back on court competing."

His management team said in an email: "It was always going to be a tight turnaround, but the team took the decision not to rush back, so he'll continue hitting on court and building up fitness in January."

At last year's Australian Open, a teary Murray told reporters he was in such pain from a chronic hip problem that the tournament might be the last event of his career.

Yet, the 32-year-old had looked on course to play in his first Grand Slam singles event since Melbourne after his recovery from major hip surgery 11 months ago had seen him climb to No 125 in the world.

After returning to competitive singles action in August, he won the European Open in Antwerp to secure his first triumph for more than two years.

Yet Murray has not been in action since Britain's opening tie at the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid last month when the pelvic bruising flared up. The Scot will now not play until February at the earliest, with his first tournament scheduled to be the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.

Reuters