It’s impressive enough that Andy Murray, at 35, was able to grind through five sets Tuesday at the Australian Open, the last two of which required tiebreakers, and emerge with his first win over a top-20 opponent in a Grand Slam event since 2017.
That he did so with a metal hip, though, put him in “uncharted territory.”
That’s how Bob Bryan put it, and the American doubles great should know: Murray made the drastic decision to undergo a hip resurfacing operation in 2019 after seeing it work for Bryan. The relatively untested procedure has allowed Murray to enjoy a far happier moment at the Australian Open than he did four years ago, when the British tennis icon shed tears while telling reporters that chronic hip pain left him only faint hope that he might make it to Wimbledon that year before calling it a career.