
Murray, who said he felt zero pain in his hip but that his back was stiff and his arm exhausted from serving, said he had not expected to get this far.
Murray and Lopez needed to serve to stay in the second set at 5-6, as the pressure began to grow, with Salisbury and Ram turning up the heat.
"I've won with a metal hip".
"I mean, potentially, yeah", he said when pressed as to whether the US Open where he won his first Grand Slam title in 2012 - could be the place to resume his singles career. "Yeah, that's a cool thing to be able to have done, and yeah, just because of probably where I was a few months ago". "Was asking a bit about my hip and asked him what he was up to, try and see if he was going to come to Arsenal", added the avid Gunners fan with a smile. "I'm happy that I can play Tennis again and do exercise and no more pain I have", said the 32-Year-old: "When I make more progress, I would like to try to play the single".
Murray will now move on to Eastbourne before playing at Wimbledon where he will be partnered by Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. "I didn't expect to be playing in the final, no, that's for sure".
The Spaniard produced a Herculean effort, winning the singles in three sets earlier in the day before playing sublimely in the doubles.
World No 113 Lopez will then be offered a short break before he returns for the doubles final. "HIP, hip Hooray", wrote the English tabloid "The Sun" on Monday, referring to the English word "hip" for hip: "And one of the biggest Comebacks in British Sport could be even more epic, because Murray is now open for a possible return at the US Open". He was also generous in his praise of Murray. Murray will continue his preparations on the grass in the next week before the start of Wimbledon on July 1st. "I'm learning a lot of things from him, no?"
"That's what I'm doing". However, his brilliance was epitomised when he fired an unstoppable forehand victor off a Kontinen serve to secure a break point and they moved 6-5 ahead when Peer fired long.
With four of them remaining, Murray and Lopez took the game, set and match, emotion clear to see from the player and from his family in his box.
Lopez, 37, was clearly impressed. That moment of inspirational play boosted them and they sealed the set 7-5. "This is really insane", he said.
Lopez, who must have been running on empty, somehow conjured up a series of stunning winners in the match tie-break to secure his own personal double and an unlikely, but welcome, victory for Murray. However, he was broken and the defending champions went on to win the tie-break.
Murray joined Lopez in a Spanish restaurant in London as they celebrated their silverware - something he later showed to his eldest daughter, who unlike so many of his compatriots was unconvinced.