Andy Murray confirms singles return at Cincinnati Masters
Andy Murray will make his return to singles tennis at the Cincinnati Masters next week.
The news, which was announced by the former World No 1 on his Facebook page, comes seven months after a tearful Murray said in Australia that his career could be over.
However, he subsequently underwent a second hip operation and made his comeback when he teamed up with Feliciano Lopez to win the doubles in the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club.
Murray and Feliciano Lopez won the men's doubles title at Queen's Club
Since then he has continued to compete in the less-demanding doubles format - most recently at the Rogers Cup in Canada this week.
And on Friday Murray posted a picture of himself clenching his fist in trademark fashion, accompanied by the message: "That feeling when you accept a wildcard for the singles in Cinci..."
Murray revealed ahead of last week's tournament in Washington that he was targeting Cincinnati - having originally said at Wimbledon that it could be a few months before he made his singles return.
Murray said earlier in the year that the Australian Open could be his final tournament
And playing in Cincinnati could be a precursor to Murray making his grand slam singles return at the US Open, which starts on August 26, although the 32-year-old may be wary of competing over best-of-five sets so soon.
Simply by playing in Cincinnati, Murray will be treading new ground, by becoming the first player to return to the singles game following a hip resurfacing operation.
Doubles star Bob Bryan has made a successful return from the same surgery and his progress gave Murray hope that he could complete his own comeback.
