Broadly speaking, yes.
There are two main ways of running - Keeping the back straight and putting stress on the knee, or
Arching the back and stressing out the hip area, otherwise known as raptor running, which is what Murray is known for.
After doing this type his whole life, I believe this has caused repetitive pain on his hip. If he doesn't stop that soon he will be forced to retire from tennis within 2 years.
Truthfully, I don't think he has much time left at the top of the sport. The same goes for Nadal who has mainly lucked out this season by means of depleted opponents in his path. It's my prediction that Alexander Zverev, Djokovic, Federer and Dimitrov (and Thiem on clay) will dominate 2018, as these are players whose joints haven't been worn by grinding away for too long periods.
Good assessment. I think no one really knows how bad Murray's hip injury is beside him. Is it something he can rest/recover and comeback to enjoy a couple more years on tour or is it that bad that the rumors saying he'll have to retire are true? If he does comeback on tour and is healthy, will he take months to find his form like in 2014 ? The tour is weaker now than it was in 2014, so I would say Murray much like Wawrinka have quite an open field to comeback to which should smooth out their respective return if it does happen next year.
Both Nadal & Federer benefited from depleted opponents/field this year. In Nadal's case, he's had multi slam years on a couple of occasions, but he's never been able to really back it up in the next one and I don't think he suddenly will now that he's in his 30's. I expect him to still be a factor on clay, but on grass not so much, and on hard, it will be a coin toss depending on his health. For Federer, it's all about his health. He can look healthy for a couple of tournaments and then he's aching and not so fresh all of a sudden (i.e. american summer), so his future is also somewhat of a coin toss. A healthy Federer is definitely a factor on grass and on hard, but it's very hard to predict his health next year. All we can say is based on stats, after 30, the more a player ages, the more likely he is to get injured/sidelined.
In theory, Zverev, Dimitrov and Thiem should dominate a little more next year. Dimitrov hasn't had to deal with many injuries in his career so far, so if he keeps his level up, next year could be even better than this one. Zverev should also continue his progression near the top, same for Thiem (on clay mostly). Who knows in what state Djokovic will comeback in?
