Andy Murray goes under the knife in Australia and is inspired to play in front of eldest daughter

Andy Murray’s always been able to call upon his fighting spirit in his biggest wins, and he’s hoping to rely on that as he copes with the biggest fight of his career: recovering from major hip surgery.

Andy Murray is still in Australia, but this time he stayed to complete hip surgery by one of the best hip surgeons in the world, Dr. John O’Donnell, a good friend it turns out, and someone he trusted to perform the procedure.

The former world No. 1 deliberated with his team last week about the drastic measure, decided to undergo the procedure, and went through with it on Monday.

It was exactly a week before he would have participated in the Australian Open.

The 30 year-old also disclosed to his fans just how much pain he had been dealing with last year, confessing that he was in much worse shape than he had wanted to admit while he was trying to stay positive, and talked about how extreme his struggles were since losing last year’s Wimbledon quarters.

“At Wimbledon, everything was hurting. I had never been in pain like that before,” Murray said to The Guardian. “The thing that was stopping me from playing — and the reason I decided to have the surgery — was I was struggling to do extensions. Any time I had to sprint, with my right leg behind me, or like when I was walking, I was in pain.”

Now it is up to the two-time Wimbledon champion to recuperate from surgery. A heartfelt sign is that Murray says that his hip already feels better. He will need to remain as positive as possible as he spends a trying time recuperating from the surgery, and then an even more daunting task: to get ready for playing the majors again.

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Like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, he will be focusing on quality rather than quantity going forward. Rather than worry about his ranking, the three-time grand slam champ will be prioritizing playing the majors and will participate in a limited schedule going forward. This seems to be a growing trend as the older guard phases out in tennis — while still collecting the top prizes that they can — and maintain their ability to win into their 30s.

“I’m not finished playing tennis yet. The rest of my body feels fantastic. I feel really good physically now apart from this one issue. I think I’m going to be back on the court competing at the highest level again,” Murray explained in his statement.

“I’m certainly not going to be putting in the same amount of tournaments and effort to try to get to No. 1,” Murray also said. “I’ll certainly be more considered in the amount of tournaments I play, even though I play a conservative schedule anyway in comparison to most of the players on the tour.”

Many had written about him throwing in the towel since he announced his withdrawal from the Brisbane tournament and that he was taking time to mull over his options. Several noted that if he had a hip replacement, he was finished, or that his best playing days were over — something that may still be the case, but this also doesn’t mean that the 30-year-old doesn’t have it in him for the occasional title. He will likely never have a run like he did in 2016, winning nine titles in one year, including his second Wimbledon, his second Gold medal and the prestigious ATP Final on his way to overtaking Novak Djokovic for the top ranking. But at the same time that doesn’t mean that he won’t win again. That prospect is what’s motivating a stubborn Andy Murray.

That, and the ability for his daughter to witness it happen.

“I had spoken to my wife about [surgery]. One of the things I would like to do is play until my eldest daughter is able to watch me and have a small understanding of what it is I’ve done for my living. That’s one of the things that’s motivated me to keep playing,” added Murray.

Next: Serena Williams withdraws from Australian Open

Right now, the world No. 19 is looking at a hopeful return date for grass season, particularly in time for his most successful grand slam, Wimbledon. He would also be aged 31.

In the meantime, Murray is not rushing anything and will come back when he’s ready. As he’s shown so many times in the past, his guts will likely will see him through. If he returns in time for Wimbledon, you can bet that the home crowd would welcome the Brit back with open arms.