I’VE NO CHANCE OF WINNING U.S. OPEN, ADMITS MURRAY
ANDY MURRAY believes the days of him coming into the US Open as one of the favourites are over — at least for now. The former world No 1 portrayed himself yesterday as a likely alsoran for the next fortnight as he prepared for his first Grand Slam since last year’s Wimbledon, and the first since 2006 that he has not been seeded for. ‘This one feels slightly different because for the last 10 or 11 years I have been preparing to try to win the event, whereas I don’t think that is realistic for me this year,’ said Murray, whose ranking stands at a nominal 378. He has a decent firstround draw against another player who is
coming back on an injury ‘special exemption’, Australia’s James Duckworth, but is likely to face fellow former champion Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round if he makes it that far. Since returning at Queen’s in June, Murray has a modest 4-3 record, with the most encouraging aspect being that he survived and won three gruelling matches at the Citi Open in Washington DC at the start of the month. Yet he has only managed one match since, and spent some time in Philadelphia doing rehab and less on-court training than he would have done were his hip not still causing restrictions. ‘My tennis has been a bit stop-start,’ he said. ‘I took a few days off after Washington, but my body feels better than it did a few weeks ago and that’s positive. I haven’t played a best-of-five match so I’ll need to see if my body is ready, because you don’t know until you get out there.’ Heather Watson last night made the main draw by beating compatriot Katie Swan 6-2, 6-4 in the final qualifying round. Watson, who was waiting to see who she would be drawn against, has suffered seven straight main draw defeats at Flushing Meadows.