Andy Murray to play US Open warm-up

FILE – Great Britain’s Andy Murray eyes the ball as he serves to Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor during the singles tennis match between Great Britain and Netherlands at the Davis Cup Madrid Finals 2019 in Madrid on November 20, 2019. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray is among four players handed wild cards for this month’s relocated Western & Southern Open, organizers said on Monday.

Former Wimbledon and US Open champion Murray was given slot alongside Americans Tommy Paul, Tennys Sandgren and Frances Tiafoe for the event, a warm-up for the Grand Slam in New York which begins on August 31.

The Western & Southern Open is normally staged in Cincinnati but was moved to New York as a one-off in order to minimize COVID-19 risks for players traveling to compete at Flushing Meadows.

Murray was a winner in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011, making him one of six former winners entered in this year’s tournament alongside Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic and Rafael Nadal.

It will be Murray’s first ATP Tour appearance of 2020. The 33-year-old Scot has twice had hip operations and has not played an official tour match since the Davis Cup last year.

The tournament takes place from August 20-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.