Roger Federer empathizes with the sadness Andy Murray felt during his tearful Australian Open press conference.

A year after undergoing hip surgery in Melbourne, the 31-year-old Scot announced he hopes to retire at Wimbledon, but admits he isn't sure his body will allow him to play that long.

Watch: World Pays Tribute To Murray

The reigning Australian Open champion conceded Murray's retirement announcement "hit me hard," but said don't call the three-time Grand Slam champion unlucky.

"It hit me hard," Federer told The Sunday Age in an exclusive interview. "Of course, I’ve seen Andy struggling you know with his hip and with his fitness for quite some time now.

"You want somebody to go there and feel like he’s happy to retire. The problem is it’s not his decision, it’s the body’s decision and that naturally hurts."

In Federer's view, Murray got the most out of his body and his game therefore he should feel pride.

"But I don’t think he will say or that we should say that he’s been unlucky, I think he’s worked extremely hard and when he got to world No. 1 or he won all those big event that he did, totally deserved them," Federer told The Sunday Age. "He put in the workload and he’s an extremely talented player as well...

"I feel like he left everything out there. There was never any doubts there. And I think he should be very proud even though he was extremely sad in the press conference and you know, you don’t want to see that."

 

 

 

 

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Best way to feel better after a tough day is a big cuddle from your mum 🙂 Genuinely been very touched by all of the messages and support from everybody today... It means a lot and has made me feel much more positive than when I woke this morning💪Thank you so much. ❤️

A post shared by Andy Murray (@andymurray) on

Jan 11, 2019 at 5:36am PST