Murray reveals weight of hip injury on himself, wife Kim Sears

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is opening up about the extent of his hip injury, saying it affected his mood and his marriage.

At one point, he thought that he would have to retire.

“I was pretty down, that’s for sure. It was a really tough period for me because it wasn’t so much the actual injury itself," Murray told the Times. “Being injured can be frustrating, but the issue that I had was with me every single day, sleeping and walking. It wasn’t just I hit a serve and my arm hurt. This woke me up in the night. It was bad.”

Murray has been married to Kim Sears for four years, though they started dating in 2005. They recently had their third child, but Murray said his injury layoff was also tough on her.

"It put a lot of strain on our relationship, just because I was down all the time," Murray said “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 realizing the impact that has on all the people around me.

"When everyone was trying to encourage me to keep going and keep trying and keep playing, I was, like, ‘You don’t know what it’s like. You don’t know what it is that I’m feeling.’”

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But since having hip surgery, Murray has returned to court and says he's enjoying both the game and spending time with his family, now that he can run and walk with no pain.

"It was probably only about six to eight weeks after, when the swelling and stuff had started to settle down and the scar started to heal up, that I started to feel no pain when I was walking," he said.

The 32-year-old Scott has climbed back slowly but consistently since returning to tour, starting with doubles and then singles play, and getting the first title of his singles comeback in Antwerp. He says the hip isn't a concern anymore.

"At the beginning, you're thinking about it every movement you make and that's not a good way to go into competing," he told press at the premiere of his documentary, where he reveals more about his youth and his career. "But now I'm not thinking about it when I'm playing."

Murray plans to return to Grand Slam competition at the Australian Open, where he will have to get used to best-of-five sets again.

"I've played three-set matches and some long ones recently," he said. "But the best of five is an extra hour, hour-and-a-half on top of that."

He is not setting goals apart from staying injury-free, saying, "I'm not expecting to win the tournament but if I can play a five-set match and get through and have no ill effects on the hip."

Murray is No.126 in the rankings.