Andy Murray forced out of U.S. Open with hip injury
Britain's Andy Murray returns to Sam Querrey of the United States during their Men's Singles Quarterfinal Match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. July 12, 2017. Credit: AP / Tim Ireland
Add Andy Murray to the list of top players skipping the U.S. Open with an injury.
Following the withdrawals of defending champion Stan Wawrinka (knee), Novak Djokovic (elbow) Kei Nishikori (wrist), Milos Raonic (wrist), Murray, the 2012 Open champion, said on Saturday his bad right hip won’t allow him to play. Murray, the No. 2 seed here, struggled mightily at Wimbledon in July and hasn’t played since.
The former world No. 1 said his hip problem took a bad turn during a match against Wawrinka at the French Open.
“Did pretty much everything that I could to get myself ready here and took a number of weeks off after Wimbledon,” said Murray. “I obviously spoke to a lot of hip specialists. Tried resting, rehabbing, to try and get myself ready here. You know, was actually practicing 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. Unfortunately, I won’t be playing here this year.”
He might have to do what Federer did last year after Wimbledon and take the rest of the year off, but he’s not looking forward to doing that.
“There has been a lot of players with injuries this year. Obviously Roger and Rafa last year had a few problems,” said Murray. “Look, I want to be back on court as soon as I can. If it means that I can play before the end of the year, then that’s what I would love to do. I miss competing, and I’ll try to get myself back on court as soon as I can.”
Murray’s spot in the tournament will be taken by Lukas Lacko, the lucky loser from the qualifying tournament. No. 5 seed Marin Cilic will move into Murray’s spot in the draw and play American Tennys Sandgren in the first round.
