Fears over Andy Murray's fitness as Australian Open draws closer

Andy Murray pictured at the launch of his charity event in October. He hasn't played competitively since Wimbledon. Picture: John Devlin

Murray had said at his charity tennis event in Glasgow last month that he was planning on heading to Miami for a training camp before heading to Australia pre-Christmas in order to acclimatise ahead of 2018’s events.

The British No 1 said last month: “My plan is to do a couple of weeks in Miami and then go to Australia very early - much earlier than I have done in the past.”

But according to The Telegraph, Murray is still in the UK, and has been training at Wimbledon and Raynes Park.

While there has been nothing from the Murray camp to suggest that he won’t take part in the Brisbane International, which starts on 31 December, and then the Australian Open on 15 January, there are concerns that Murray’s recovery from a hip injury is taking longer than expected.

Murray has dealt with hip issues for a number of years but insisted at Wimbledon and the US Open that playing doesn’t do more damage to the joint, but that it is sometimes too painful for him to play at full pelt.

The suggestion earlier this year was that the problem is degenerative and can’t be cured, and instead would need to be carefully managed for the remainder of his career.

Murray hasn’t played a competitive game since his quarter-final exit at the hands of Sam Querrey at Wimbledon but said in September when announcing his enforced break from tennis that he would begin the 2018 season at Brisbane, with the tournament confirming that they had signed a three-year deal with the 30-year-old.