Mary Carillo, CBS’ tennis commentator, said that the world’s No. 1 player, Roger Federer, was not trying to win his match last week against young Brit Andy Murray in an ATP event in Cincinnati in order to get more rest for the U.S. Open.

Carillo made her remark during a conference-call discussion yesterday with John McEnroe that the tennis schedule is too long and should be cut to just eight months. Carillo said the grind is too much for the players and fewer tournaments are in order.

“He didn’t try to win Cincinnati,” Carillo said. “I have deep respect for Federer.”

When McEnroe interrupted, “Are you saying he threw the match?” Carillo responded, “Yeah, I watched that match. He wasn’t trying to beat Andy Murray that day and he wasn’t trying to win. He went there because he had to.

“Is it better than Roger pulling out of the whole tournament? Yes. But those kind of results are going to happen when the schedule allows itself to maintain its nuttiness.”

Federer was playing his eighth match in nine days after capturing the Toronto event. His 55-match winning streak in North America ended with the 7-5, 6-4 upset loss to Murray – Federer’s first straight-set loss in 194 matches.

The Murray loss was Federer’s final tuneup before the two-time defending U.S. Open begins play at Flushing Meadows as the top seed Monday. After the Cincy match, Federer admitted he was exhausted from the schedule and went into the match thinking he might lose. He said he was “happy with the score,” but when asked if he likes having the extra time for the Open, Federer said, “No, I would have preferred to win.”

Said ATP spokesman Greg Sharko: “He was out there with every intention to win that match.”