Andy Murray has decided not to play 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 26 August.
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.”
Andy Murray lost in straight sets Richard Gasquet of France in Cincinnati
Murray did not confirm his partner for either doubles event at Flushing Meadows, the scene of his first Grand Slam triumph back in 2012.
He initially marked his return from hip surgery when teaming up with Feliciano Lopez to win the doubles in the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club in June.
Murray then played with Marcelo Melo in Eastbourne before partnering Serena Williams and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the mixed and men’s doubles at Wimbledon.
A partnership with brother Jamie Murray followed at the Washington Open – with the duo falling at the quarter-final stage – before once more playing with Lopez at the Canadian Open in Montreal.
On Sunday, the 32-year-old added two ATP singles events in China to his schedule.
The two-time Wimbledon champion will feature at the Zhuhai Championships, which starts on September 23, before playing at the China Open in Beijing a week later.
