LONDON, July 12 — Former world number one Andy Murray has said it could take up to a year for him to regain the strength in his hip needed for a return to singles action.

The 32-year-old claimed the doubles title with Feliciano Lopez at Queen’s Club on his return to competitive tennis late last month after undergoing career-saving hip resurfacing surgery in January.

The Scot lost in the second round of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and in the third round of mixed doubles with Serena Williams, but said there was still a long way to go before a return to singles competition.

“During a hip resurfacing operation... a lot of muscles are severed and stitched back up so it takes a lot of time and needs hard physical work to recover properly,” Murray wrote in his column for the BBC.

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“That strength is not going to come back in just three or four months, it could take nine or 12 months.

“I need to get those muscles back to a certain level before I can go on a singles court and try to play best of five sets, otherwise I could do damage if the strength isn’t there.”

The three-times Grand Slam winner said he would focus on physical conditioning to improve the strength in his hip over the next four to six weeks.

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“I’m happy to be pain free and want to get my hip as good as it can be. Once it is strong again, I can get back to competing,” Murray added. — Reuters