2018 has not started off the way many tennis fans hoped it would. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and Kei Nishikori all have injury doubts ahead of the Australian Open. Andy Murray is another name added on to that list as his withdrawal from the Brisbane International leaves many doubts about his participation in Melbourne Park.
The three-time Grand Slam champion replaced Djokovic at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship which gave hope to many that he would be fine ahead of his participation in the capital of Queensland.
German Yannick Hanfmann has replaced Murray as a lucky loser and will play American Ryan Harrison in the second round.
Murray's Emotional Instagram Post
The Brit took to Instagram to update the tennis universe on his current situation. He said in his post that he played some practice sets with some top players and that his hip is not cooperating like he would like.
He is currently reassessing his options with more rehab as his top choice and then surgery as a second choice due to the lower probability of a successful outcome than he would like.
Murray said he will remain in Australia to test out the hip to see if it settles down in time for the Australian Open. If it doesn't, he said he will fly back home. Murray has not played since Wimbledon.
He finished off his post by saying. "Everytime I wake up from sleeping or napping i hope that it's better and it's quite demoralising when you get on the court it's not at the level you need it to be to compete at this level."