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Murray, five times a runner-up in Melbourne,
has not played a competitive match since hobbling to defeat
against American Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-finals
last July.
The 30-year-old's withdrawal was confirmed by Australian Open
organizers who published a statement from the Scot on the
tournament's Twitter account on Thursday.
"Sadly I won't be playing in Melbourne this year, as I am not
yet ready to compete," three-times grand slam champion Murray
said. "I'll be flying home shortly to assess all the options but
I appreciate all the messages of support and I hope to be back
playing soon."
Murray played a one-set exhibition match in Abu Dhabi last week,
losing to Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut.
He also played Roger Federer in a charity exhibition match in
Scotland in November, but his hopes of playing in the year's
first grand slam nosedived when he withdrew from this week's
Brisbane warm-up event.
Olympic champion Murray has fallen to 16th in the world rankings
and will now have to decide whether or not surgery is needed to
overcome the hip problem.
"The chances of a successful outcome are not as I high as I
would like which has made (surgery) my secondary option and my
hope has been to avoid that," Murray said this week when
announcing he would not play in Brisbane.
"However, this is something I may have to consider but let's
hope not."
Murray underwent back surgery at the end of 2013 but returned to
play some of his best tennis and won a second Wimbledon title in
2016 and reached number one in the world rankings for the first
time.
That effort took its toll on Murray in 2017 as he won only one
title.
He joins Kei Nishikori on the absent list for this year's
Australian Open after the Japanese withdrew to continue his
rehabilitation on a wrist injury.
Several other players, including world number one Rafael Nadal
and six-times Melbourne Park champion Novak Djokovic are
battling to be fit for the Australian Open.
"We are fully aware that Andy has been going through a difficult
period with his hip and that he's done everything possible to
prepare for the Australian summer," Australian Open tournament
director Craig Tiley said.
"Personally, I also know that Andy loves tennis and would do
anything to play. This is a very hard decision for Andy and we
totally respect it."
Tiley was confident that Djokovic (elbow) and Nadal (knee) would
be ready for the Jan. 15 start in Melbourne.
"I spoke to Novak. He's already got every hour of the day
planned between when he arrives and the start of the Australian
Open. He'll be ready," Tiley said.
"(Rafa's) on his way down here now so he'll be ready. It’s not
dissimilar from last year...Last year we were talking about the
health of Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams and two
weeks later they were playing each other in the final."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman and Hardik Vyas; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty and Pritha Sarkar)
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