Britain's ANDY MURRAY had hip surgery in Melbourne and said that he "hopes to be playing again in time for this summer's grass-court season," according to Russell Fuller of the BBC. Murray "has not played a competitive match since he was knocked out of Wimbledon in July." He said, "I'm not finished playing tennis yet. I'm going to be competing at the highest level again. I'm very optimistic about the future -- the surgeon is very happy about how it went" (BBC, 1/8). In London, Stuart Fraser reported Murray's management company "played down a claim" by former tennis player PAT CASH that the Briton "is troubled by problems in both hips." Cash said that Murray revealed to him during an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi last month that he was suffering pain not only in his right hip "but in his left as well." Cash: "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." A spokesperson for Murray insisted, though, that his left hip "is unaffected" and the comment to Cash "was more a humorous reference to his whole body hurting at this stage in his career" (LONDON TIMES, 1/8).
