Andy Murray's career has stalled massively since rising to the pinnacle of World tennis in 2016.After a number of disappointing results to start 2017, including bowing out in the fourth round of the Australian Open following a shock defeat to Mischa Zverev, the Scotsman then suffered an elbow injury which kept him out for a month.When he returned in April his woes on court worsened, and a hip injury was clearly impacting Murray's performance as he crashed out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals to Sam Querrey.That loss proved to be his last competitive match of the year, and his hopes of a return this January were diminished after it was revealed he had undergone hip surgery to correct the fault.With Murray now 30-years-old, and with him having been out of tennis action for some time, there have been concerns as to whether he will ever be the same player when he finally makes his return to the court.

MURRAY PROVIDES ENCOURAGING UPDATE ON TWITTER

Murray has been tweeting about the Australian Open throughout the week, earlier expressing his disappointment that he will not be competing in this year's edition.

But in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Glasgow born player revealed some very encouraging news to his fans on Twitter.

Inviting questions for a Q&A, Murray was asked several times about his hip.

That included a question from none other than Boris Becker, as to which Murray replied: "It's getting better! Thanks for asking...enjoy the rest of the aussie open.. See you soon."

And when a fan asked how his rehab is going, Murray revealed that it is going better than he expected.

And although he did not put a time frame on his return, Murray did tease his fans by saying he expects to return to the court 'very soon'.

DOES MURRAY STILL HAVE THE SAME PASSION FOR THE SPORT?

Given how much he has already achieved in his career, one may suspect that Murray will not have the same drive to be successful in the sport.

Murray has been world number one and won three major titles, but it is clear that the Scotsman is eyeing further success following his return.

He even noted that he would trade back being world number one just to be on court again, whilst also stating that his passion for the sport higher than ever.

Extremely encouraging news for Murray fans. Let's hope he can make a speedy recovery so he can be back to challenging for major titles once again.