ANDY MURRAY WITHDRAWS FROM THE 2017 U.S. OPEN • DRAW GETS REARRANGED BUT ROGER FEDERER STAYS

Written by: Staff on 26th August 2017

ANDY MURRAY WITHDRAWS FROM THE 2017 U.S. OPEN • DRAW GETS REARRANGED BUT ROGER FEDERER STAYS

epa06165216 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer participates during Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows in New York, New York, USA, 26 August 2017. EPA-EFE/PETER FOLEY |

Murray withdraws from U.S. Open, draw gets rearranged but Federer stays put

By Ricky Dimon

Andy Murray joined an already extensive list of absentees from this year’s U.S. Open when he announced his withdrawal on Saturday. Murray has not played since Wimbledon due to a hip injury, but he showed up in New York at the beginning of this week hoping that his body would ultimately allow him to play.

As it turned out, it did not.

“[I] did pretty much everything that I could to get myself ready here and took a number of weeks off after Wimbledon,” the second-ranked Scot explained. “I obviously spoke to a lot of hip specialists. [I] tried obviously resting, rehabbing, to try and get myself ready here. [I] 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.”

The question now is if Murray will play at all the rest of the season. He has an incredible amunt of points to defend in the fall following his memorable run to the 2016 year-end No. 1 ranking.

“Obviously I spoke to a number of specialists about it to get the best advice possible,” Murray noted. “Obviously when you speak to a lot, there is 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’ll definitely make a decision on that in the next few days. That’s something that I’ll sit down and decide with my team. But I’ll decide on that in the next couple of days, for sure.”

In the immediate future, the three-time Grand Slam champion’s exit shakes up the U.S. Open draw. Marin Cilic moves into Murray’s spot at the bottom of the bracket, Sam Querrey slides into Cilic’s former position, Kohlschreiber becomes the No. 33 seed to take Querrey’s place, and Lukas Lacko gains a lucky-loser entry and assumes Kohlschreiber’s spot in the bracket.

New first-round matchups are as follows: Cilic vs. Tennys Sandgren, Querrey vs. Gilles Simon, Kohlschreiber vs. Tim Smyczek, and Lacko vs. Benoit Paire.

Roger Federer remains the No. 3 seed is still in a stacked top half of the draw along with Rafael Nadal.