ANDY MURRAY is worried he may need more surgery which could rule him out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.
Thirteen months after a career-saving hip operation, he has been plagued by a pelvic bone bruise and has not played since Novembers Davis Cup.
Two-time Wimbledon champ Muzza wants to appear in the Miami Open on March 23 and then the clay-court season and all being well he will achieve those targets.
Yet the Scot faces an uncertain wait and will only know by the end of next month if he has to go under the knife to clear abnormal bone growth within soft tissue around his new metal hip
Doctors could then have to wait until May to perform the procedure.
Murray said: When people have these operations, there is something called heterotopic ossification. Thats basically like bone growing outside of the normal skeleton.
That grows for 14 to 16 months post-surgery and can cause impingements, pain and aching.
If you try to remove it too early, while it is still growing, it just grows straight back.
What I need to do just now is build up in these next couple of weeks to really test the hip out.
Hopefully it responds fine but if it doesnt, then I need to potentially have that removed.
I should know by the end of next month whether Im good to play or not with it. Thats what I have to wait for.
Its not that long an operation in terms of the rehab and stuff.
Its just that if I wasnt able to have it until May, with six to eight weeks rehab, then it would mean missing that period.
Hopefully the activity around this heterotopic ossification settles down.
Ill see what happens in the next few weeks.
Murray, 32, who has returned to training, was a frustrated viewer during the Australian Open but is determined to return to the Slams.
Yet he has to remain patient, especially as he initially worried his metal hip implant was not healing properly.
The former world No1 added: I want to keep playing. Its just whether Im able to or not.
If you watch my latest session, Im fine. But theres a difference between what Im doing and playing high-level tennis.
This is just something that comes up which is extremely common in hip resurfacing a traumatic kind of injury.
A lot of the military get this ossification. If I have to have it removed, then thats a pain in the a***. But well see what happens in the next few weeks. I might be playing in the next few weeks.
Over the past couple of years, Ive become quite pessimistic about time-frames.
Its been unbelievably complex, challenging and difficult because its not easy to get answers.
