Andy Murray has hip surgery after withdrawing from the Australian Open

ANDY Murray is adamant he will be back playing tennis before the next grand slam of this season after undergoing hip surgery in Melbourne.

Andy Murray has had hip surgery

ANDY Murray is optimistic hip surgery will ultimately extend his career.

The Scot was operated on by Dr John O’Donnell at the St Vincent Hospital yesterday (Monday), later revealing the surgery was successful.

Sidelined since July, the former world No 1 hopes to return for the British grass court season — crowned by Wimbledon — in June.

“I’m not finished playing tennis yet. I’m going to be competing at the highest level again,” he said.

“I’m very optimistic about the future — the surgeon is very happy about how it went.”

Murray, 30, last week withdrew from Monday’s Australian Open after failing to shrug off chronic soreness.

But he now hopes to be hitting balls by the start of March with a possible return to competition after May’s French Open.

“My plan is to be back playing around the grass-court season — potentially before then — but I’m certainly not going to rush anything,” Murray said via teleconference.

Andy Murray posted this image after his surgery

“I want to know when I come back that I’m ready.

“My hip will feel better than a year ago, when I was world No 1.”

Murray has been dogged by soreness in his right hip since last year’s French Open.

He withdrew from the US Open two days before the start of the tournament in August last year, and said he realised he was not ready to compete in Brisbane last week when he tested his hip against other top-50 players.

“I want to come back when I’m fit and ready to play, not to get into a situation like in Brisbane or New York, where I’m unsure when I turn up at a tournament how fit I am,” he said.

Murray posted a photo from hospital on Instagram, saying “Feeling really positive and looking forward to starting rehab.”

Murray has been dogged by injuries for almost a year.

He said he would reduce his schedule to prolong his career.

“I’m certainly not going to be putting in the same amount of tournaments and effort to try to get to No 1 in the world,” he said.

“I’ll be playing a reduced schedule, and then focusing more on trying to win major events and big tournaments rather than trying to achieve certain ranking goals.

“I’ve been fairly competitive with top-50 players in the world in Brisbane when I’m struggling to move, and I made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon when I literally couldn’t walk and was in so much pain.

“So if I can get myself to 95 per cent of my best, I believe that’s enough to compete at the highest level. No question.

“The rest of my body feels fantastic. I feel really, really good physically apart from this one issue. The surgery allows me to extend my hip well, and I’ll be able to sprint.”

Murray also revealed he underwent groin surgery last month.