Andy Murray pulls out of US Open with hip injury

Andy Murray surprisingly announced his withdrawal from the US Open on Saturday because of a hip injury.

Murray pulled out two days before the start of the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, where he was seeded No. 2.

Murray won the US Open in 2012 for the first of his three major championships.

He hadn’t played a match since last month at Wimbledon, where he was the defending champion and was bothered by his hip during a five-set quarterfinal loss to Sam Querrey.

Choking up while speaking at a news conference at Flushing Meadows, Murray said that his hip was “too sore for me to win the tournament.”

He said he will decide in the “next couple of days” whether to put an end to his season because of the injury.

Murray’s exit from the US Open is the latest in a lengthy list by top men who are missing the event because they are hurt.

Defending champion Stan Wawrinka recently had surgery on his left knee, 2016 runner-up Novak Djokovic has a bad right elbow, 2014 runner-up Kei Nishikori has an injured right wrist and 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic has a problem with his left wrist.

Add in Murray, and that means five of the top 11 men in the ATP rankings will be absent when the US Open starts Monday.

That leaves No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Roger Federer as the two clear favorites for the men’s trophy. They were drawn Friday into the same half of the bracket, meaning they could only meet in the semifinals in New York.