Tennis star Andy Murray has revealed he now has a "metal hip" after undergoing surgery following 18 months of being in pain.

The former world number one posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed and an X-ray image showing a metal plate in his right hip.

Image: An X-ray image shows a metal plate in his right hip. Pic: Andy Murray

He wrote: "I underwent a hip resurfacing surgery in London yesterday morning...feeling a bit battered and bruised just now but hopefully that will be the end of my hip pain 😀.

"I now have a metal hip as you can see in the 2nd photo 👉👉 and I look like I've got a bit of a gut in photo 1."

Image: Andy Murray said he was feeling 'a bit battered and bruised" after his hip surgery. Pic: Insta/andymurray

The 31-year-old Scot has been struggling with hip problems for 18 months and in an emotional news conference at the Australian Open earlier this month said that he may be forced to retire this year.


He said he wanted this summer's Wimbledon to be his final tournament before retiring but was concerned he would not be able to due to his injury..

Wiping away tears at one point, he became so overcome by emotion that he walked out of the press conference.

Minutes later he returned to talk about how the sport that dominated his life had left him with a hip injury so severe he sometimes struggled to put on his shoes and socks.

Current and former tennis stars supported him, saying he was a "champion on and off the court" and that he deserved to retire on his own terms.

Murray: I've been struggling for a long time

Murray had surgery on his hip in January last year, but was unable to play without pain, and told reporters at the Australian Open he was considering going under the knife again to ensure "a better quality of life" when he quits professional tennis.

He had not revealed what decision he had made before posting his surgery recovery photo on Tuesday morning.

Murray was British number one for nearly 12 years until Kyle Edmund took the crown in March last year after Murray injured his hip.

A week ago tennis legend Boris Becker urged him to have hip surgery because he would regret not doing it for "the rest of his life".