‘It’s not safe,’ warns Andy Murray as he calls for rankings re-think

Kevin Palmer
June 27, 2020

Andy Murray has confirmed that he is planning to skip the relocated Cincinnati Masters event, as he aims to get his preparation right for the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

The Scot is planning to play at the event in Washington if the ATP Tour gets the green light to resume in August, but the prospect of playing a Masters event that has been moved from Cincinnati to New York does not appeal to the 2012 US Open champion.

The USTA have confirmed that they intend to move the final event before what will now be the second Grand Slam of the year to New York, with all players going into a bubble that will allow them to play both events and limit the risk of spreading the Covid-19 virus.

Yet Murray has insisted he will not play in a tournament scheduled to take place a week before the US Open, as he edges his way back into competitive action after his latest injury lay-off.

“I don’t think I will play the Masters event that has been moved to New York,” he confirmed. “I’d hate to pick up a little injury that prevented me from playing at the US Open. I would prefer to play Washington and miss the Masters event if they all go ahead.”

Murray also expressed his reservation about playing the French Open in Paris, with the clay-court season set to get underway immediately after the US Open with the Madrid Masters set to be played a week after the event in New York.

“It is not possible and it’s not safe, in my opinion, to play the final or even the semi-finals or quarter-finals in New York and then you are playing on Tuesday in Madrid at attitude on a clay court when players haven’t played in a long time,” he added, as he reflected on a hectic schedule that will see the Madrid and Rome Masters played in the two weeks ahead of the French Open.

“A lot of the top players are not going to be competing in many of the biggest events. None of the top players for a very, very long time have competed the week before a Slam, so the rankings could get a bit skewed.

“It might worth looking at a two-year ranking, so that guys who did well last year and aren’t able to defend their points properly are not punished. I think that might be fair.

“Fine the events can go ahead, but even Beijing ad Shanghai comes on the back of the French Open with no weeks off. There are literally big tournaments every single week and it is going to be very difficult for players that are winning every week to commit to that many tournaments. I think we need to be a bit careful about the rankings.”

The Schroders Battle of the Brits event featuring Andy Murray all of Britain’s top players is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.

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