Andy Murray has decided to end his comeback season early, saying he wants to be “the best shape possible” for the start of the 2019 season.

Britain’s former world number one plans to play in the Shenzhen and Beijing tournaments over the next two weeks.

But he will not play in either of the remaining two Masters series events in Shanghai or Paris in October.

Murray hopes reconditioning and “some hard training” and will help him “make some big improvements”.

The 31-year-old Scot had hip surgery in January and has only played nine matches this year after returning to the ATP Tour in June.

He withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament and lost in the second round at the US Open on his return to Grand Slams.

“I need a long period of training and reconditioning to get myself in the best shape possible for the beginning of the 2019 season and getting myself back competing for the biggest tournaments again,” Murray, now ranked 308th in the world, said in a video on Facebook.

“Looking forward to getting some hard training done and making some more improvements.

“It’s been really positive the last few months. I feel like I made big strides forward in the rehab from the hip surgery. With another strong training period, I’ll make some big improvements.

“Hopefully, the next couple of weeks go well in China, looking forward to it.”