There is at least one upside to the hip injury that has kept Andy Murray off the tennis court since last July: The Scot has more flexibility with his schedule for the rest of 2018.
The former world No. 1 simply wants to play as many matches as possible when he makes his return, anticipated for June, after undergoing surgery on his right hip in early January. At the same time, the injury layoff has caused his ranking to dip low enough that he will have fewer tournaments in which he's required to play. That gives him the freedom to play in the places he likes best -- including Washington.
On Saturday, tournament officials announced the three-time Grand Slam winner will return to Rock Creek Park Tennis Center to play the Citi Open for the third time in his career. This year's event, which will be Murray's first trip to Washington since he lost his opening-round match here in 2015, will run July 28 to Aug. 5.
"I enjoyed it both the two times that I played," Murray said in a telephone interview Friday. "I was pretty young the first time, I had a good run there. This year has been difficult with injury and obviously I've been trying to play matches once I come back. It's a nice tournament, good conditions, nice and warm, and the players get looked after very, very well there. I like it, even though it didn't go well the last time I was there. Me and my team had a good time there and wanted to come back."
Murray, who held the No. 1 ranking for 41 weeks in 2017 but has since slipped to No. 29, joins a solid Citi Open field that is scheduled to include defending U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, ranked ninth in the world, and defending Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, ranked second, on the women's side and a trio of top-10 ranked players on the men's side. No. 8 Kevin Anderson, No. 9 John Isner and No. 10 David Goffin have all committed to play, in addition to 2015 champion Kei Nishikori and Bob and Mike Bryan.
Murray first played in Washington as a 19-year-old in 2006 when he lost to Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the final of what was then called the Legg Mason Classic.
This year, he's eyeing to make his return at a tournament in June in the Netherlands at the start of the grass-court season. He said he will not play the French Open, despite his name appearing on the entry list.
The Citi Open will serve as a tuneup before the U.S. Open, which will start Aug. 27. The timing of the two tournaments was another factor Murray considered when drawing up his schedule.
"We chatted about maybe playing a couple of tournaments there start of the summer then maybe not playing as much as close to the U.S. Open," Murray said. "We kind of look at different things that worked in the past ... I can be a little bit more flexible."
Sports on 04/22/2018