Edmund and Konta must take burden
No Briton in slam last 16 for first time in four years Dolgopolov angry at more questions on match-fixing
When we look back in 10 or 20 years, the 2017 US Open could come to be seen as a watershed in the fortunes of British tennis. And not in a good way.
Kyle Edmund’s retirement from the men’s singles left Great Britain without a single representative in the fourth round of a slam for the first time since the 2013 French Open.
What do these two tournaments have in common? They are the only two that Andy Murray has not entered in the past decade.
What a far cry from last year’s US Open, when Murray reached the quarter-finals, Edmund and Johanna Konta both made the fourth round and Dan Evans had a match point against eventual champion Stan Wawrinka before going out in the third.
But then recent weeks have brought a series of ill tidings, particularly on the men’s side. The future of Evans’s career stands in doubt, as he awaits a hearing next month into his positive test for cocaine. And Murray’s prospects of returning to the top of the game hardly feel much brighter, for completely different reasons.
The big question surrounding Murray’s hip is how badly he has damaged the articular cartilage – the material which lines the joint and removes any friction between ball and socket. Medical science has developed so far in the last decade that the bones themselves can be repaired or reshaped. But cartilage is virtually irreplaceable.
Murray is understood to have consulted at least half a dozen specialists already. But the fact that we have yet to receive any information on his next move suggests there is no easy answer.
The presence of a fit Murray at a slam ensures British representation in the second week, because you have to rewind to the 2010 US Open for the last time he failed to go that far. He also provides a kind of umbrella, under which other British hopes can shelter.
As a leading contender for every tournament he enters, Murray attracts the focus of the fans and the cameras. He allows others – like Konta and Edmund – to get on with business quietly.
Pressure has a corrosive effect on most players, although they do usually learn to tolerate it in the end. Konta came to New York as Billie Jean King’s pick for the title and proceeded to lose her first-round match against in three sets. For all the efforts of up-and-coming players like Cameron Norrie, Jay Clarke and Katie Swan, there are no meteors in the next batch of British hopefuls. And certainly no answer to the Canadian invasion now being led by 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov.
No, Konta and Edmund will soon be the best we have. There is a privilege here, but also a burden.
Meanwhile Alexandr Dolgopolov came under further questioning yesterday about match-fixing in tennis. Dolgopolov had just won his thirdround match against Viktor Troicki in fine style, dropping only five games in a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 scoreline. But he is also the subject of a Tennis Integrity Unit investigation prompted by unusual betting patterns surrounding his first-round defeat in Winston-Salem almost a fortnight ago.
“You’re going all over it again,” said an angry Dolgopolov in his post-match press conference. “You know my statement after the first match? You’re giving me the same questions. I’m here not to talk about betting. I already said everything that could be said, and you guys want to give me again the same questions or what?”
And Italian No1 Fabio Fognini has been suspended from the US Open – he had been due to play in the second round of the men’s doubles – after directing abusive and misogynistic language at chair umpire Louise Engzell during his first-round singles loss to compatriot Stefano Travaglia.
On the court, world No 1 Karolina Pliskova faced match point in the second set of her eventual 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Zhang Shuai, but managed to come up with a big forehand up the line that saved her from becoming the latest high-ranked seed to suffer an early exit. Pliskova – who reached the final here last year – also needed treatment from the trainer on her right elbow. “It just felt a little bit tight during the match,” she explained afterwards.