Murray was heard speaking to the chair umpire during the match where he was complaining about the length of time Tsitsipas was off the court.
Follow Us
Veteran tennis player Andy Murray fought hard but eventually lost out to Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday in the US Open. The encounter was an extraordinarily gruelling one as the former world number 1 took Tsitsipas to the limit. Tsitsipas won 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 but Murray played superbly well as he proved why he was the best player in the world at one point in his career. However, Murray was not pleased with the Greek’s conduct on the court. It was not because he had lost the match that he was upset. The former world number 1 was upset as Tsitsipas took several comfort breaks as well as a medical timeout during their match which lasted over four-and-a-half hours.
Murray was heard speaking to the chair umpire during the match where he was complaining about the length of time Tsitsipas was off the court. In the post-match presser, the 2012 US Open champion pulled back no punches. He labelled the amount of time Tsitsipas took off the court as ‘nonsense’. The veteran was visibly upset with his opponent’s conduct, although some do say that it was because he had lost the match and had a case of sour grapes.
“It’s not so much leaving the court. It’s the amount of time, it’s nonsense and he knows it,” Murray fumed. “That’s annoying for me because it sounds like sour grapes because you’ve lost a match. I would have said the same thing if I’d won, I promise,” the 2012 US Open champion said. Murray said that the long breaks taken by the Greek did have an influence on the outcome and that he had lost respect for the world number three.
“It’s just disappointing because I feel it influenced the outcome of the match,” Murray said. “I’m not saying I necessarily win that match, for sure, but it had an influence on what was happening after those breaks. I rate him a lot. I think he’s a brilliant player. I think he’s great for the game. But I have zero time for that stuff at all, and I lost respect for him,” the former world number one added.
A gruelling five-set encounter between Tsitsipas and Murray in the first round of the US Open ended with the former taking an extremely hard-fought victory. The score at the end of the match was 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in favour of the Greek. He managed to score an incredible 19 aces while Murray only managed to score nine. The Greek, however, did commit more double faults with five than Murray with three.
The win percentage on both serves were in favour of Tsitsipas. He got 77% on the first serve whereas Murray got 69% and on the second serve, Tsitsipas got 64% while his opponent managed to get a 59%. The Scot did score more break points with four out of a possible 11 while Tsitsipas managed to score three out of a possible 10. Murray also won 21 service games while Tsitsipas won 20.
