Logo

Logo

Andy Murray gets wild card entry for Western & Southern Open ahead of US Open

Andy Murray was a winner in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011, making him one of six former winners entered in this year’s tournament alongside

Andy Murray gets wild card entry for Western & Southern Open ahead of US Open

Andy Murray file image. (Photo: Twitter/atptour)

Former US Open champion Andy Murray is all set to play in the warm-up tournament ahead of the event in Flushing Meadows this year. Murray, along with three others, has been handed wild cards for this month’s relocated Western & Southern Open, the organisers informed on Monday.

Americans Tommy Paul, Tennys Sandgren and Frances Tiafoe will join Murray in the event, set to start from August 31. The Western & Southern Open is normally staged in Cincinnati but was moved to New York as a one-off in order to minimise COVID-19 risks for players travelling to compete in the US Open.

Murray has won the event in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011. He will be one of the six former winners participating in the tournament with Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic and Rafael Nadal.

Advertisement

The tournament takes place from August 20-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Also, it will be the first ATP Tour appearance for the 33-year-old former number one. Murray was last seen on a Tennis court during ‘Schroders Battle of the Brits’ in June this year, organised by his brother Jamie Murray.

Meanwhile, before the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a standstill, Murray had returned to the court after suffering another injury-enforced gap due to his hip injury.

After undergoing one of the major surgeries of his career, the former Wimbledon Champion marked his return to the tour in August last year in the Cincinnati Open, where he lost in the first round. Apart from this, he also played at seven other tournaments — including the Davis Cup in Spain last month — to finish the year with an 11-7 win-loss record.

However, he won his first singles title since 2017 at Antwerp in October 2019 in the European Open beating Stan Wawrinka. But his joy did not last long as he was forced to go out for another three months due to injury which cost him his participation in this year’s Australian Open.

Advertisement