Roger Federer and John McEnroe back Andy Murray to recover from hip injury in time for Wimbledon

A hip injury is causing serious concern over the defending champion's participation at Wimbledon, although the World No 1 has been backed to recover by McEnroe and Federer

The defending champion faces an anxious race to be fit (Getty )

John McEnroe would be “absolutely amazed” if Andy Murray does not make the start line at Wimbledon next week and Roger Federer insists the Scot is “as tough as nails”, but a hip injury is causing serious concern over the defending champion’s preparations for the tournament.

Having pulled out of his first scheduled exhibition match earlier this week because of the injury, Murray has now withdrawn from the second, which he was due to play at Hurlingham on Friday.

“Sadly I won’t be ready to play tomorrow,” Murray said in announcing his withdrawal. “My hip is still sore and I need to rest it today - and likely tomorrow.”

After losing to Jordan Thompson in the first round of last week’s Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, which was his only scheduled warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, Murray had been keen to have more court time this week. He was fit enough to hit with Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday, but has not been on court since.

The world No 1 is hoping to be fit enough to hit on Friday, when the Wimbledon draw will be made, but the injury, which surfaced after his exit from Queen’s, is leaving him seriously short of match practice. It is the latest in a series of physical issues which have troubled him this year, including shingles, two bouts of flu and an elbow injury.

Federer, in contrast, was looking refreshed and in good spirits as he joined McEnroe and Rod Laver at an event in Wimbledon to promote the Laver Cup, which the Australian Open champion’s company is helping to organise.

The Laver Cup is a three-day event in Prague in September which will oppose six of the best players in Europe (including Federer himself, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem) against six from the Rest of the World (including Milos Raonic and John Isner). The two teams are captained by Bjorn Borg and McEnroe respectively.

Asked what it would take for Murray not to make the defending champion’s traditional opening match on Monday afternoon, Federer said: “I feel like he would need to feel like he could play for 14 days – or seven matches. If you feel you can only play one match, I don’t think then it’s good enough to play the tournament. Because going over the best of five sets, over two weeks, only the tough ones will survive, so it just flushes you out that way.

“You need to feel confident in your body at some stage, otherwise what’s the point? To put yourself out there just to be out there? Andy’s had too much success to do that.”


 Federer praised Murray for being "as tough as nails" 
 (Getty)

Federer added: “If he can get through that first round and feel better afterwards, absolutely he should play. So I expect him to play.”

The Swiss described Murray as “a great first-week player”. He explained: “He doesn't mind the slippy grass, he doesn't mind the bounce of the ball. He might even thrive in these conditions.

“So we will speak differently about him if he wins his first three matches. That's the key for him now, not looking too far ahead. I am not happy to hear he is struggling with something. I hope it's not too serious. If he is 100 per cent physically on Monday I think we will see a very strong Andy Murray at these Championships.”

He added: “The way I know Andy, he’s tough as nails and I feel like he’s going to be there on opening Monday and he’ll need to be significantly injured not to play.”


 Murray is renowned for being one of the toughest players on tour 
 (Getty)

Laver agreed that Murray would play on Monday only if he felt he could get through the fortnight. “If he goes out there on Monday and isn’t really able to play, I’m sure the thought will be in the back of his mind: ‘Why am I going out there? If I can’t win this tournament or I can’t win this match, am I doing the right thing? It’s almost like I’m taking somebody’s place’.”

He added: “When you walk on the Centre Court at Wimbledon you’re saying you’re ready to play and you’re going to play your best tennis. And unfortunately you can’t if you’re injured.”

McEnroe said he would be “absolutely amazed” if Murray did not play but added: “That would definitely tell you that this would be a serious injury and that he’d be out for a pretty significant amount of time, because he’s clearly in great shape.”


 Federer won Halle for a ninth time last weekend (Getty )
 (Getty)

Federer, who won the Australian Open in January after taking a six-month break, returned to competition a fortnight ago after missing the whole clay-court season and went on to win the title in Halle in his second grass-court tournament. He said his original intention had been to take seven weeks off and then play the French Open, but in the end he took 10 weeks off and missed Paris.

“I’ve never had any regrets, which was good, because when I take a decision I move on with it,” he said. “My practice went great, the weather was beautiful in Switzerland and in Halle too, so I got an incredible amount of practice on grass done.

“But now Wimbledon’s coming around and this is where you want to feel your best and play your best. So it’s similar to Andy. I just have to focus on my first round and then take it from there. But if I go deep I think it could be very beneficial that I didn’t play the clay at all.”