Andy Murray Announces He'll Retire This Year

Three-time grand-slam champion Andy Murray has announced he will retire this year, due to a lingering hip injury.

The 31-year-old broke down in tears at a press confrence in Melbourne on Friday as he revealed he would not be competing beyond Wimbledon, but admitted he might have to call it quits after the Australian Open.        

Murray had to withdraw from last year's Australian Open before having surgery on his hip in Melbourne. He said the pain from the injury was almost becoming too much.

"I'm not feeling good. I've obviously been struggling for a long time," an emotional Murray said.          

"I've been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now.    

"I can still play to a level, [although] not a level that I'm happy playing at. But it's not just that, the pain is too much really.

"I don't want to continue playing that way. I've tried pretty much everything to get it right and that hasn't worked.

"I spoke to my team and I told that I can't keep doing this, that I needed to have an end point because [I was] just playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop," he said.       

"I said to my team 'I think I can get through to Wimbledon'  ... that's where I would like to stop playing. But I'm also not certain I'm able to do that."

He briefly walked out of the media conference to gather his composure before returning. 

Murray won the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 to join Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the 'big four' of men's tennis.

The Scottish star will play Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round of the Australian Open.

- AAP