Hip injury sees Murray withdraw from warm-up match

ANDY MURRAY pulled out of his scheduled Wimbledon warm-up match at the Hurlingham Club on yesterday because of a sore hip.

The world No 1 had scheduled two matches at the exhibition Aspall Tennis Classic event following his first-round exit at Queen’s Club last week.

He had been due to take on Frenchman Lucas Pouille, but his management announced yesterday morning that he would not take to the court because his hip was “a bit sore”.

The decision was described as a precaution, with Murray still planning to contest the second match against an as-yet-unnamed opponent on Friday.

But it is not the preparation the Scot would have wanted as he prepares to defend his Wimbledon title.

Murray’s difficult season has been punctuated with health problems, including shingles, an elbow injury and two bouts of flu.

John McEnroe, meanwhile, has refused to apologise for his comments about Serena Williams, believing men should play against women to settle the argument.

The former world No 1 stirred up a storm after telling US radio station NPR that Williams, who holds the Open era record of 23 grand slam singles titles, would be ranked around 700 in the men’s game.

McEnroe has been widely criticised for appearing to belittle the achievements of Williams, but defended his remarks.

After describing Williams on NPR as the greatest female player of all time, McEnroe was asked why he had not simply said greatest player.

He said: “I felt the need, however unfortunately, to defend myself and say what I really felt, which is about what I think she would be.

“I’ve got a solution. Solve the problem, and I’m sure the men would be all for this – the men and women play together. And then we don’t have to guess.”

Williams responded to McEnroe’s comments with a pithy response on Twitter.

The 35-year-old, who is away from the tour preparing to give birth to her first child, wrote: “Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.”

Asked if he would like to apologise, McEnroe said: “No,” adding: “I didn’t know it would create controversy. I’ve said this 1,000 times. I don’t want anything to go wrong with Serena because she’s pregnant, I don’t want to upset her.”