Andy Murray has announced his withdrawal from the US Open due to an ongoing hip injury. The Brit becomes the fifth high profile withdrawal from the men’s draw.
Murray – who has been struggling with the injury since before Wimbledon – announced the decision on Saturday, just two days before the tournament begins.
Former US Open Champions Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka both withdrew earlier in the year while Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic followed suit in recent weeks. Murray’s announcement leaves just four previous Grand Slam champions in the draw; Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic.
Question marks have surrounded Murray’s health for a number of weeks with the former world #1 having not played since his Wimbledon defeat to Sam Querrey. Hopes were raised for British fans when Murray flew out to New York early to practice.
The most recent announcement though means that Andy Murray misses only his second Grand Slam in the last ten years. His only other withdrawal was the 2013 French Open.
Speaking about the withdrawal, Murray said, “I was actually practising okay the last few days. But it’s too sore for me to win the tournament and ultimately that’s what I was here to try and do.”
Murray also added that he was unsure of whether or not he was going to return to court in 2017. “When you speak to a lot [of specialists], there are different views and opinions on what the best thing to do is moving forward. And that’s a decision I’ll need to take now.
“I certainly wouldn’t have been hurting myself more by trying to play. It was more a question of whether it would settle down in time. We were hoping that by taking a few weeks off and resting and rehabbing and really reducing the load that I was putting through it, I would be okay by the time US Open came around. But unfortunately that’s not been the case.
Murray’s opponent, Tennys Sandgren, will now face 5th seed Marin Cilic, with Philipp Kohlschreiber entering proceedings as the 33rd seed. Lucky loser Lukas Lacko enters the US Open draw as a result of Murray’s withdrawal.
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