Andy Murray adds Newport event to schedule in bid to earn US Open seeding
Andy Murray has committed to next week’s grass-court event in Newport, Rhode Island, as he looks to earn a seeding at August’s US Open.
After going down in the second round of Wimbledon to 20th seed John Isner, a frustrated Murray told reporters that he could have avoided such a fate had he secured a seeding before the tournament began.
“I could have had a good run here,” Murray said. “One of the reasons why improving your ranking and trying to get seeded is important [is to] avoid playing top players and dangerous guys like that early in tournaments.”
Murray stands at No52 in the ATP rankings, which is a major improvement on No134 at the start of the year. He has reached the finals of two 250-point events this season – in Sydney and Stuttgart – and is finally beginning to gain momentum after the physical struggles of recent times.
He also has Ivan Lendl back at his side – a huge confidence boost for a man who admits that he has been turned down by several coaches since the insertion of his metal hip – and this is one reason why he is keen to set off early for the USA.
After playing Newport – where he last appeared as a 19-year-old – Murray will join Lendl for at least a week’s training in Florida. And then it will be on to another ATP event – either Washington or Atlanta – before he looks to earn some significant points at the two Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati.
“I really want to try and improve my ranking to a level where I'm getting seeded in slams,” said Murray after the Isner defeat. “That was a goal of mine post-Miami [where he lost to Daniil Medvedev in March].
“I've spoken to my team a lot about that. I want to put myself in that position hopefully come the US Open. If not the US Open, then going into the Australian Open next year. That means I'll need to be out there competing and winning matches.”
