Did Andy Murray ruin the US Open draw?

Published by Linda Pearce

Andy Murray came in for criticism after withdrawing from the US Open after the draw. Photo: Getty Images
Did Andy Murray ruin the US Open draw? Columnist Linda Pearce argues that the rules, not Murray, are to blame for the lopsided men’s tournament.

Darren Cahill’s is one of the more reasonable and rational voices in tennis, both as a TV analyst and as a coach. Typically, the ESPN commentator and current mentor to world No.2 Simona Halep, expressed what many were thinking when he advocated a change to the way the late withdrawal of a player ranked in the top four affects grand slam seeding machinations.

Andy Murray announced on Saturday that his injured right hip would prevent him from contesting the event he won back in 2012. The US Open draw was completed on Friday, with Murray as the second seed in an injury-depleted men’s field, and the senior member of a bottom half that appears considerably weaker than the top.

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The logical course, as Cahill and company have articulated amid a soundtrack of the generally unimpressed, would be to elevate No.3 Roger Federer into the vacancy created by Murray’s no-show, Instead, the rules dictate that the senior seed in the 5-16 seeding band (in this case No.5 Marin Cilic) is pushed up into the top four, and the highest seed in the 17-32 group (No.17 Sam Querrey) gets bumped up. Further down the food chain, unseeded Philipp Kohlschreiber has filled Querrey’s spot and lucky loser Lukas Lacko booked a main draw start.

Murray had every right to leave his decision to play, or not, until the last moment, regardless of the ramifications for the rest of the field in New York. It is the system, not the Scot, that’s at fault.

Or in Cahill’s words via social media when asked why the obvious solution was not implemented: “that would make too much sense”. Moving No.3 (Fed), to No.2, then bumping No.5 (Cilic) to Fed’s No.3 then shifting the No.33 from outside the seedings altogether into No.5 makes for a fairer draw that doesn’t “screw’ the major players in the reshuffle, he said.

These are the grand slam rules. No-one is suggesting Lacko simply take Murray’s slot in the draw, or that the whole thing be junked and done again. But an improvement would surely be to create an extra “sub-band” within the leading quartet that allows the No.3 and No.4 to be elevated if one of the top two withdraws.

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That it was not possible in this case leaves a crush of contenders, including title favourite Federer and world No.1 Rafael Nadal, along with former winner Juan Martin Del Potro, Cincinnati champion Grigor Dimitrov and danger-to-anyone Nick Kyrgios all squeezed into the top half.

The veteran Swiss star and the young Aussie one are seeded to meet in a round-of-16 showstopper that does not need to come that early, and wouldn’t, if Federer was now where Murray had been. And a first Flushing Meadows showdown between Roger v Rafa can only be an appetiser in the semis, rather than the main course on finals day.

All of this might be a good result for Cilic and his neighbours sitting below the draw’s equatorial line. But in the interests of the tournament, and common sense? Not so much.

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