Andy Murray withdraws from US Open with hip injury just two days before tournament start

Andy Murray has pulled out of the US Open because of the right hip injury which has troubled him ever since the end of the clay-court season. The 30-year-old Scot announced his decision here just two days before the start of the year’s concluding Grand Slam tournament, saying that he had tried hard to rediscover his fitness but was in too much pain.

Murray has not played since Wimbledon, where his injury was a major factor in his quarter-final defeat by Sam Querrey, but has been training here in an attempt to rediscover his fitness. He is still hoping to return to competition before the end of the year but said he could not be certain that he would be able to do so.

“I did pretty much everything that I could to get myself ready here and took a number of weeks off after Wimbledon,” an emotional Murray said. “I obviously spoke to a lot of hip specialists. I tried resting, rehabbing, to try and get myself ready here. I was actually practising OK 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 world No 2’s withdrawal is the latest in a remarkable series of physical setbacks suffered by some of the game’s top players. Five of the world's top 11 men will be missing from the tournament as the Scot joins Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic on the sidelines.

Wawrinka and Djokovic, the champion and runner-up here 12 months ago, have both announced that they will not play again this year because of knee and elbow problems respectively, while Nishikori and Raonic have both pulled out of the tournament because of wrist injuries.

There has also been a doubt about the fitness of Roger Federer, who pulled out of last week’s Cincinnati Masters with a back problem, though the Swiss says he is feeling much better than he did a fortnight ago.

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Murray has dealt with his hip problem for several years, but it has never been as severe as it has been this summer. The current injury flared up after he lost to Wawrinka in the semi-finals of the French Open early in June.

The Scot lost to Jordan Thompson in his first match at the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club in his only warm-up tournament on grass and then pulled out of two exhibition matches before Wimbledon. In his matches at the All England Club it was clear that he was still suffering with the injury as he limped when he walked between points.

The Scot has been reluctant to confirm the exact nature of the injury but said the medical advice he had received was that he would not have been causing himself any more serious trouble by playing.

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“It was more a question of whether it would settle down in time,” he said. “I kind of ran out of time. Maybe if I'd been able to take a little bit more time off [I would have been OK]. I have never had to take any time off because of my hip before, so 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, that I would be OK by the time the US Open came around, but unfortunately that’s not been the case.

“I spoke to a number of specialists about it to get the best advice possible. Obviously when you speak to a lot [of people] there are different views and opinions on what the best thing to do is moving forward. That’s a decision I’ll need to take now.”

Asked about the possibility of following the examples of Wawrinka and Djokovic – and of Federer and Rafael last year – by taking the rest of the season off to rest their bodies, Murray said: “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.”

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Did he hope that, like Federer, he could eventually come back and play as well as he has in the past? “If I get myself fit and healthy, there is no reason why I can’t,” he said. “I have been practising here and I’ve been competitive in practice when I’m not moving close to how I can when I'm healthy. Obviously there have been a lot of players with injuries this year. Roger and Rafa last year had a few problems.

“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. But I’ll need to make the correct decision and really think it through these next couple of days with my team, and then make that decision.”

Murray's withdrawal necessitated a reshuffle in the draw for the US Open. Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev are now the top seeds in the bottom half of the draw, with Federer and Nadal the highest seeds in the top half. This will be only the second Grand Slam tournament Murray has missed since Wimbledon in 2007. He also pulled out of the French Open in 2013 because of a back injury, for which he eventually needed an operation.

Having lost his world No 1 position to Nadal five days ago, Murray is certain to fall further in the rankings in the coming weeks, though that will be the least of his worries.