Andy Murray could benefit from an ‘early recovery’ with keyhole surgery (Picture: Getty)
Keyhole surgery could save Andy Murray’s hopes of a farewell tour before retirement this summer but Martina Navratilova thinks he might be finished.
Murray may be ruled out for up to 12 months after suffering a major ankle injury at the Miami Open in a devastating blow to his plans of a send-off.
The 36-year-old, a two-time Wimbledon champion, former world No.1 and double Olympic Gold medallist, is widely expected to hang up his racket in 2024.
It was thought that would come after this year’s Championships or perhaps even the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, but his ankle issue may now rule him out.
But there is new hope for Murray with Suresh Chandrashekar from London Sports Orthopaedics claiming a keyhole procedure would mean an ‘early recovery’.
‘All of it can be done via keyhole,’ the ankle surgeon told iNews. ‘That means less soft tissue disruption, early recovery, early healing.
‘He’s come back from hip replacement surgery, and he’s performing at that level. So he’ll be super-motivated to be back and cut down the set timelines as much as possible.’
Martina Navratilova says ‘it’s not looking good’ for Andy Murray (Picture: Getty)
Nine-time Wimbledon champion Navratilova has cast major doubt over Murray’s return and believes we may have already seen him on the court for the last time.
‘Time is not on Murray’s side, it doesn’t look good,’ she told Sky Sports. ‘I’ve sprained my ankle badly but I’ve never ripped a ligament. It’s going to take a while.
‘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.
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‘It’s tragic and he’s been through so much. I’m wishing him the best but it’s not looking good.’
Wimbledon gets underway in just over three months and it remains to be seen if Murray will be fit to play or not.
Last year, Murray lost in the second round to Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set epic, confirming afterwards that he was starting to think about retiring from tennis.