John McEnroe defends timing of Andy Murray's US Open withdrawal

Andy Murray withdrew after failing to shake off his hip injury. Picture: Getty.

Nadal said following his first-round win over Dusan Lajovic in New York that it was “difficult to understand” why Murray pulled out on Saturday, after the draw but still two days before his scheduled first match.

“Normally you want to keep practising, keep trying until the last moment,” said the Spaniard. “You don’t retire Saturday morning. You retire Monday morning or Sunday afternoon. If not, you can do it before the draw. That’s why I say it’s strange.” Murray decided after his practice session on Saturday lunchtime that his troublesome hip was too sore to allow him to compete.

Had he pulled out before Friday’s draw, the seedings would have been reshuffled and Roger Federer moved to No 2, meaning he and Nadal would not have been in the same half.

Instead, fifth seed Marin Cilic was moved into Murray’s slot, and McEnroe believes criticism should be directed towards the International Tennis Federation’s rules rather than the Scot.

McEnroe said: “I don’t blame Murray at all because he waited as long as he can to see if that hip would react in a positive way so I think it’s just bad luck for him that it didn’t.

“I don’t know exactly what the rules are but when he pulled out they should have put Roger Federer on the bottom half of the draw and that would be problem solved.

“Instead they have some crazy rule and I don’t get it. Andy was waiting as late as possible but if I were him I would have waited another day or so. I think he just said, ‘look I can’t go all the way here’.”

McEnroe, meanwhile, is happy to see Maria Sharapova back playing grand slam tennis. The former world  No 1 made her first appearance at one of the majors since her 15-month doping ban after controversially being given a wild card and fulfilled her prime-time billing, knocking out second seed Simona Halep in a first-round classic.

McEnroe said: “I think in the third set of her opening match, people started to remember what Sharapova was about, they remembered they respect her.

“You see other sports where suspensions aren’t nearly as long, so I think she’s paid her dues and I think the sport, especially on the women’s side, needs her back, especially with Serena missing.”