The 31-year-old had said on Friday that he would retire this year because the pain from his hip was "too much".

He fought brilliantly against Roberto Bautista Agut in the Australian Open first round on Monday but lost in five sets in what could be his final match.

"Surgery is my only option if I want to play beyond just Wimbledon," Murray told BBC Radio 5 live.

"However, there is a strong possibility I won't come back and play after an operation. I want to play tennis, but not with the hip I have right now."

On Friday, Murray suggested the Australian Open could be the last tournament he takes part in, although he had targeted Wimbledon for his farewell.

The three-time Grand Slam winner added: "If I want to play there one last time then I'd have the next four or five months off then have an operation and stop.

"If I have surgery after Wimbledon then there's no chance I'd try to come back again because that'd be another year out of the game. It'll be too tough to come back.

"If I went down the route of having surgery now then there's a good chance I wouldn't be able to play again, but my quality of life would be better."

And that quality of life, Murray says, is key after he admitted he struggles to even walk his dogs in his current condition.

"Just now, going to walk my dogs, playing football with my friends, is the worst thing I can think of doing," he said.

"I hate it because it's so sore and it's uncomfortable. Yeah, waiting another five or six months to do something like that is just another, you know, period of where I'm really uncomfortable."

Murray limped and grimaced as he lost the opening two sets of his first-round encounter against the Spaniard, but then launched a spirited fightback inside the Melbourne Arena.

The Scot took the next two on a tie-break and appeared set to break Bautista Agut's opening service game in the fifth after going 30-0 up.

But the world number 24 recovered to hold before he went on to take the final set.