Tennis champion Andy Murray has opened up about the negative consequences his hip surgery had on his marriage with Kim Sears and said his wife was "brilliant" during his fight to return to tennis.

In January this year, the two-times Olympic winner had announced that the Australian Open might be the final tournament of his career because of a "severely damaged hip." Later in the month, Andy Murray decided to undergo an operation on the hip "to improve his quality of life." The "resurfacing" operation involved a metal ball-and-socket joint being fitted into the hip.

The operation went successful and Murray returned to tennis with a win at Queen's Club in London in June. However, tennis was not the only significant part of his life put in jeopardy because of his injury, as his marriage also suffered a strain due to him being constantly "down."

"I was pretty down, that's for sure," the two-time Wimbledon champion told The Times about his struggle with the injury, adding "It was a really tough period for me because it wasn't so much the actual injury itself. Being injured can be frustrating, but the issue that I had was with me every single day, sleeping and walking."

The 32-year-old said he tried to put on a "brave face" for his children but his wife Kim Sears saw right through his struggle and stood by him even though he was acting "selfish" and his low mood continued to negatively affect their marriage.

"It put a lot of strain on our relationship, just because I was down all the time. She has been brilliant and I would probably be quite selfish, just in terms of thinking about myself and how I'm feeling all the time and not actually realising the impact that has on all the people around me," Murray confessed.

Andy Murray
Andy Murray has said he would discontinue doubles to focus on returning to peak singles form GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Rob Carr

Murray says he is grateful for the "life-changing operation" as it also allowed him to enjoy the little things in his life including "crawling through a tunnel in soft play with children or getting down on the floor to play and roll around with them."

Andy Murray Australian Open