Former world number one Andy Murray says he has no regrets about not walking away from tennis despite missing 11 months of the year with a hip injury.

The three-time Grand Slam champion was speaking ahead of his return to the sport at the season-opening Brisbane International, which gets underway at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Monday.

Murray, who won the Brisbane title in 2012 and 2013, enters the tournament with a world ranking of 256.

The 31-year-old Scot had intended to play in Brisbane at the beginning of 2018, but was forced to withdraw on the eve of the tournament with a hip injury.

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He had surgery soon after, which kept him out of the game for much of the year.

“You want to go out on your own terms,” he said when asked about a possible retirement.

“If I decided to stop six months ago, having not played or gotten back to a level where I can compete again, I would have looked back and regretted that.

“I owed it to myself to give myself the best possible shot to get back to a level I was happy with.

“I am able to compete at a high level, but I have to back it up a few days in a row. That’s the challenge,” he said.

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Murray was limited to just six tournaments in 2018, with his best result a quarter-finals appearance in Washington in August.

“There are still things that I want to achieve,” he said.

“Whether I am capable of that I don’t really know.”

The Brisbane tournament features world number one Rafael Nadal, Japanese star Kei Nishikori and defending champion Nick Kyrgios.