Is Andy Murray’s career truly over?

Andy Murray’s been sidelined since the U.S. Open last year with a hip injury. Rather than opt for surgery, he’s been rehabbing the hip with little improvement and after losing at the Mubadala exhibition, and now pulling out of the Brisbane and Australian Open tournaments, it’s clear that the Scottish player is in crisis with a lot of questions emerging about his career.

‘Murray at fault for his hip’

‘Will Andy Murray return to men’s game?’

‘Andy Murray may be finished’

These are just a handful of the headlines that flashed since the former world No. 1 announced his latest withdrawals, and that he was heading home to evaluate his future prospects. Fans were hopeful when he entered the Mubadala exhibition tournament as a last minute replacement for Novak Djokovic — this after withdrawing from the tournament earlier. Perhaps Murray was bouncing back sooner than expected?

After his sluggish performance in Abu Dhabi, and judging from practice sessions afterwards, the world No. 17 has now pulled out of the next events he was scheduled for, Brisbane — where he was one of the bigger names, and where he’s won twice — and most alarmingly, the Australian Open — where he’s tried in five attempted finals to win.

And now after swearing off surgery and opting for ‘holistic’ approaches, the 30 year-old is considering a hip replacement as a last resort to jumpstart his career. A problematic hip — which is likely degenerative arthritis — is so integral to a tennis player’s movement, one can understand why he now wants to try something more drastic. Surgery and recovery will mean that the two-time Gold medalist will likely be out of the game for another six months.

Murray at a crossroads

One thing is for certain, Andy Murray is in a crisis. His physicality has declined. But his heart and fight haven’t. Typically, the British press has been savage, with many calling his career over. But one thing that the Brit has — and always has had — going for him is his strength of will. The three-time grand slam winner has garnered admirers by displaying a great fight to win. His second Gold medal success in the Rio Olympics was one of the best matches I’ve watched.

“It sucks, you know, seeing him not being able to get it right,” said friend Nick Kyrgios. “He’s been rehabbing now for almost five months. And it’s never good seeing a guy like that get injured, especially because he’s just good for the sport. He’s a good guy as well.”

But let’s be realistic. Judging from the recent withdrawals by Novak Djokovic and his continued elbow ailment, neither player is ready to demonstrate dominant form anytime soon. And at age 30, it is an open question whether this will ever happen again.

One thing’s for certain, Djokovic/Murray will not be Federer/Nadal Act 2, further underscoring just how phenomenal — and extremely rare — it is to launch that kind of resurgent comeback.

He will need to fight to return

“The characteristic of these great players is that when they’ve had a setback they often come back stronger, reinvigorated in the mind,” said Murray’s former coach Miles Maclagan. “He said he was tired, so could come back with a fresh mentality.”

Of the Big Four, Roger Federer is the healthiest and is the current justified favorite to win his 20th grand slam in Melbourne — although I believe Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, and David Goffin will give him a run for his money, all of them having achieved groundbreaking ‘firsts’ last year.

What is clear is that Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will likely be out for the beginning hard court season, a surface that favors them. Whether they want to take a chance and time their comeback for the spring clay season, is an open question. Both players have won clay Masters titles, but perhaps they’ll be fully healthy by the time grass season comes around. Murray and Djokovic are multiple Wimbledon winners.

Will he turn to surgery and will it help?

“It’s not definitely curtains yet,” said former British No. 1 Andrew Castle, in a BBC5 interview. “I’m no surgeon but people in tennis don’t generally recover from this level of hip injury – assuming it’s either a tear of full-on arthritis that requires a new hip.

“Either way months of physical therapy is required after you have surgery. It’s too central an area and too important to the body’s movement to come back early from. So the signs are not good.”

Surgery may not be the answer, but at this stage in Murray’s career, it is probably worth trying. Murray can look to the multiple comebacks of Nadal’s and most especially Juan Martin del Potro’s, who has suffered through several wrist surgeries and still managed to wreak havoc at last year’s U.S. Open, knocking out Federer in the quarters. Del Potro is also the Silver medalist who lost to Murray in Rio.

“I genuinely miss it so much and I would give anything to be back out there,” Andy Murray wrote in a heartfelt Instagram announcement to his fans.

“I didn’t realize until these last few months just how much I love this game.”

Former coach Maclagan still believes that it’s possible for him to return.

Next: Each State's Nominee for America's Team

“I know he’s put as much into it as he possibly could. There have been big advancements in medicine and there are guys like Lleyton Hewitt and Milos Raonic who had this sort of surgery and came back to a good level. But of course it’s never quite the same,” said Maclagan according to the BBC.

We all know that Murray’s heart is on the tennis court. But will his body follow? It will be a matter of time. But Andy Murray’s greatest asset is his will to fight for the win. He will need to rely on that more than ever now.