Fears emerge over Andy Murray's future in tennis as he might need double hip surgery

Former world number one Andy Murray's future in tennis is in doubt after it was revealed that he might need a double hip surgery.

The 30-year-old started 2017 as the top ranked player in tennis for the first time in his career following his win at the ATP Finals in London in November 2016.

However, he was dogged by poor form and injuries during the calendar year with just the one title in Dubai and his best Grand Slam performance being a French Open semi-final exit.

Murray last featured at Wimbledon in July after his quarter-final loss to Sam Querrey and decided to take the rest of the year off to recover from an injury to his right hip.

The former world number one was previously expected and confirmed to take part in Melbourne for the 2018 Australian Open. However, with doubts over his fitness as he had not traveled to Australia for Christmas, he eventually pulled out of the first Grand Slam of the year.

Murray was present for the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Dubai in late December though, where he spoke with Pat Cash.

The former Wimbledon champion would go on to claim that the Briton is experiencing problems in both his hips, rather than just the one hip which could affect his tennis future.

"I was talking to Andy in Abu Dhabi and told him I was getting pain in one of my hips and he told me his problems were in both ​hips," Cash told the Sunday Times. "He was pretty open about it and I thought he was resigned to the fact.

"Andy has been a great champion, but the way he has always played, in a style that relies so much on fitness and being stronger than the other guy, and the way he has punished his body, the end result was always going to be something like this."

There is no current update on when Murray could possibly return to competitive tennis.