Murray said after falling at the last hurdle in Cincinnati on Sunday that he had been carrying a shoulder injury during the week, and while it is understood that has now eased, he says tiredness has been an issue.
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Murray has played in all of the first three finals of the majors in 2016, losing to world number Djokovic in Melbourne and Paris before putting Milos Raonic, one of the sport’s widely-hyped new generation, in his place in a straight sets spanking in the Wimbledon final.
“Yeah I mean, I spoke to him after the match a year ago, it was fine”, Murray said.
Nadal had to withdraw during the French Open because of the injury and missed 2½ months. “Ironically enough, the day after the final of Wimbledon, I was like how.?”
The Scot has played 57 matches already this year and reached the final of the last seven consecutive tournaments he has played.
“I have not played a lot, I haven’t practised a lot, but I’m just now starting to feel a little better”, Williams said.
“It happened actually in Rio, just few days before the start of the tournament”. She says she is doing a lot of physical therapy.
Williams also is seeking her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would break a tie with legendary Steffi Graf.
A reunion with his coach Ivan Lendl in June sparked immediate results with victory at Wimbledon but Murray said becoming a father for the first time, back in February, may also be a reason behind his form this year. “It was some other things that I was going through privately”.
At Wimbledon, Djokovic faced a third-round exit at the hands of Sam Querrey.
According to reports, Djokovic’s off-court issues involved his wife, Jelena.
Serena Williams admits she feels under-cooked ahead of the start of the US Open on Monday. The main question hovering over the US Open’s top singles seeds might not be which of them will win the event and bag yet another historic title but which of them will last longer.
Olympic singles champion Monica Puig of Puerto Rico is seeded 32nd.
First up for Williams is Ekaterina Makarova, while Kerber meets Polona Hercog and Muguruza faces Elise Mertens. Australian Open champ Angelique Kerber and French Open victor Garbine Muguruza are on the other side of the draw.
After he won a maiden French Open to complete the career Grand Slam, all talk was of the Serb going on to defend his Wimbledon and US Open titles and clinch a calendar Grand Slam. After struggling in recent years and missing much of this season because of injuries, Janowicz is No. 228 in the world and used a protected ranking to get into the U.S. Open.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka, who is in Murray’s half of the draw, begins against Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, and may have to deal with a young Australian, Bernard Tomic or Nick Kyrgios, in the fourth round.
American Sloane Stephens has withdrawn from the U.S. Open because of a right foot injury. “I will try to compensate and improvise as much as I can and find the best ways of getting myself properly ready”. The two-time US Open champ – a quarterfinalist past year – faces Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova first up. “She never really stops”, continued the world number one.
Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany drew the second seed and will face Slovakia’s Polona Hercog in her first match.
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Although he then won a record 30th Masters trophy in Toronto, a shock first-round loss at the Olympics to a rejuvenated Juan Martin del Potro and a withdrawal from Cincinnati with a wrist injury suggested all is not well with the 2011 and 2015 US Open victor. The 2009 U.S. Open champ needed a wild card to get into the tournament.
