Andy Murray opts against playing US Open singles

Andy Murray has opted against playing singles at the US Open following his opening-round defeat at the Cincinnati Masters.

However, the former world No 1 will play men’s and mixed doubles in the upcoming grand slam, which starts on August 26.

Murray was defeated by Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-4 in Cincinnati on Monday in what was the Scot’s first competitive singles match since hip resurfacing surgery at the end of January.

After the match, Murray admitted he needed more time to consider playing best-of-five singles at the US Open, but said he was unable to delay his decision to accept a wild card that was offered by the United States Tennis Association.

“We were hoping to maybe hold a wild card until a little bit closer to the time to see how I feel and get some matches hopefully and a bit of practice,” Murray said.

“[It was] a decision I made with my team. I didn’t want to take a wild card today because I just didn’t know how I was going to feel after a match. I felt like I wanted to be fair for me to maybe try and get a couple of matches in before making a decision like that.

“If I would have taken the wild card and then not played, then I would have been getting loads of questions about my hip and, ‘Why has he turned it down? Is something wrong? What’s the problem?’

“It was more likely that I was not going to [play], because although I did fine in the match today, physically, my legs felt quite heavy at the end of the match, and that’s probably not going to change a whole lot in a couple of weeks.”

Murray did not confirm his partner for either doubles event at Flushing Meadows, the scene of his first Grand Slam triumph back in 2012.

On Sunday, the 32-year-old added two ATP singles events in China to his schedule – the Zhuhai Championships, which starts on September 23, and the China Open in Beijing a week later.

“I am obviously happy to be back playing,” Murray said.

“I thought it would have changed my perspective completely on things but I am sitting here disappointed which I think is probably a good thing if I want to get back playing to a high level.

“If I was just happy to be back on the court and not worried about the outcome then I would be concerned about that. But I feel a bit disappointed, I feel I can do better and there’s lots I can work on so I’ll go away and do that and hopefully be better next time.”

(c) Sky Sports 2019: Andy Murray opts against playing US Open singles