• Scot confident he can return to competitive tennis • ‘I don’t have pain, I just need to see how good the hip can get’

Andy Murray is confident he can return to competitive tennis and has hinted at a doubles spot at Wimbledon. In January the two-times Wimbledon champion announced plans to retire after this year’s championship due to injury, expressing doubt as to whether he would even make it to the All England Club.

Murray has all but ruled out an appearance in the singles draw nearly four months after surgery on a career-threatening hip problem but he could return to SW19 by playing in the men’s doubles.

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He told The Times: “I would say there is very little chance I would play singles during the grass [season]. Potentially doubles, but I’m not trying to get ready for singles just now.

“The thing I said before was that, if I wasn’t feeling good, there was more chance that I would play and then stop after Wimbledon. Whereas if it’s feeling good, it makes a bit more sense to give it time to make sure that it’s as good as possible before I try to play singles on it.

“Because I’ve only just started moving now, to get ready for the grass singles-wise I would have to be doing that for two and a half to three weeks before Queen’s, and that would give me only five or six days of building up to start running properly. It’s not enough time.”

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Murray has upped the intensity of his recovery regime and has been practising with the Australian Nick Kyrgios on a clay court at Wimbledon. He was also encouraged by the recovery of Bob Bryan, the American doubles player who had the same surgery in August aged 40.

“I don’t have pain,” Murray said. “I just need to see how good the hip can get really. I know from seeing what Bob Bryan has done that for doubles it will be absolutely fine.”