NEW YORK • Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray is among four players handed wild cards for this month’s relocated Western and Southern Open, organisers 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 Aug 31.

The Western and Southern Open is normally staged in Cincinnati, but was moved to New York as a one-off in order to minimise Covid-19 risks for players travelling 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 Association of Tennis Professionals 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 Aug 20-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York. — AFP