Andy Murray has revealed he will be out injured for 'an extended period' after he ruptured his ankle ligaments during his three-set defeat to Tomas Machac at the Miami Open.
The former world No.1 received treatment on his ankle late in the third set of the last-32 loss but took to Instagram late on Monday night to explain the full extent of the injury.
The Scot, 36, has talked about ending his glittering career this summer and had admitted he is now "looking forward to the end" after the match, but hinted that he may play on despite the severity of his CFL issue.
"Yesterday towards the end of my match in Miami I suffered a full rupture of my ATFL and near full thickness rupture of my CFL," he said in a post on social media.
"I will see an ankle specialist when I return home to determine next steps.
"Goes without saying this is a tough one to take and I’ll be out for an extended period. But I’ll be back with 1 hip and no ankle ligaments when the time is right."
Murray had been reflective in his post-match press conference in Miami.
"I wasn't thinking about all the matches I played," the three-time Grand Slam winner said. "Just more that that's the last match that I am going play here which is sad because I love it here.
"I've spent so much of my tennis career here and I would have liked it to have gone on a little bit longer. This tournament particularly for me is an important one so it was a bit more emotional leaving the court today than it might be at some of the other events.
"I am looking forward to the end now, give my best the next few months and get to be at home with my family. Miami has been a special place for me during my career. It's been my tennis home really. I've done so much of my work and training and preparation here. I love the city."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here