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Three-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Andy Murray has won ATP's 'Comeback Player of the Year' award for his miraculous return to the sport after a near career-ending hip injury that required major surgery.
Before his debilitating bout with injury, the Scotsman was one of the best tennis players in the world. He was the only player able to consistently challenge the Big 3 at every tournament level, because of which he garnered his own set of dedicated fans.
Murray's career highlights include two Wimbledon titles, a US Open title, two Olympic gold medals and finishing 2016 as the year-end number 1. But all of that seemed to have become part of history as he struggled to deal with a chronic hip problem.
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Over the last two years we have seen Murray make a couple of returns to tennis, but they ended in failure. Mid-way through 2019 it began to look as though the former World No. 1 would never return to the sport.
The timing of Murray's health issues was particularly bad since it came when he was on the verge of starting his period of dominance over the tour - just as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic had done at various stages of their careers.
Murray's body finally broke down completely in the middle of 2017, and he decided to take a break from the tour after Wimbledon of that year.
It would not be until the autumn of 2019 that we saw Murray make his true comeback to the tour. By defeating Stan Wawrinka in Antwerp, Murray won his first title in over two years - much to the elation of the tennis world.
There still remains a lot of uncertainty as to whether Murray will ever be able to return to his peak form and return to the top 5, where he arguably belongs. But one thing is for certain: it is good for the tennis world to have the fan favorite return at this exciting crossroads of the sport.
