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What Andy Murray was still focusing on the day after his match was not his opponent’s dizzying foot speed or serve speed. The stat that stuck with Murray, the 2012 US Open champion, was how long his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas lasted in the off-court timeouts.
“Fact of the day. Stefanos Tsitipas takes twice as long to get to the bathroom as it takes Jeff Bazos to fly into space. Interesting,” Murray Posted on Twitter Tuesday morningmisspelled the name of both its rival and Amazon billionaire, but added the toilet and rocket ship emojis for clarity.
On Monday, third-seeded Tsitsipas defeated Murray 2-6, 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a game that finished early in the fifth set. tsitsipas Although two off-field timeouts are allowed by the rules in best-of-five sets, Murray was enraged when he saw Tsitsipas leave the pitch after Tsitsipas won the fourth set.
“Why are they allowed to do this?” Murray asked lead referee Nico Helwerth in exasperation. “Why?”
Murray, 34, sat on the bench at Arthur Ashe Stadium, changing his shirt, draping an ice towel around his neck and soaking his body, staring repeatedly at the court entrance. After a few minutes of sitting and bouncing his legs, Murray stood up and hovered behind the baseline, bouncing a ball and tapping the video wall at the back of the court.
“What is your opinion on this matter?” Murray asked Helwerth. “You’re running the game. Give me an idea: do you think it’s good?” Murray later asked Grand Slam supervisor Gerry Armstrong, “You think that’s good, what’s going on?” asked.
When Tsitsipas finally returned seven minutes after the last point had been played, he went to his turn, then walked to a cooler to get a bottle of water. He then took his seat and Murray said, “Get up! What’s going on, get up!”
As fans started booing, Murray rubbed his sleeves to encourage them.
Murray dropped his serve in the next game, and Tsitsipas kept the timeout advantage for the rest of the set. Murray said he was prepared for Tsitsipas to take long breaks if the match didn’t go as he wanted, and he believes Tsitsipas has a reputation for that.
“It’s just disappointing because I think it affected the outcome of the game,” Murray said. “I’m not saying I definitely won that game, but it affected what happened after the timeouts. I value him a lot. I think he’s a brilliant player. I think he’s great for the game. But I just don’t have time for that kind of thing and I’ve lost my respect for him.”
Speaking of Murray’s comments, Tsitsipas, 23, said he hoped to speak to her directly.
“If he has something to tell me, we should both talk to figure out what went wrong,” Tsitsipas said. “I don’t think I broke any rules. I played by the rules, how is everything.
“I don’t know how my opponent feels when I’m playing outside; that’s not really my priority,” Tsitsipas added.
Tsitsipas said the time he spent off the field was “the time it took me to change my clothes and get back on the field”.
Acknowledging that players are often accused of abusing bathroom break or medical timeout rules to change the momentum of the match, Murray said he and other members of the player’s council have discussed rule changes that could make acting more difficult.
“If everyone else thinks it’s totally cool and it’s okay with that, then maybe it’s me that’s irrational,” Murray said. “But I think it’s ridiculous. And he knows it himself.”
The United States Tennis Association said in a statement that it “sees speed of play as an important issue in our sport,” referring to the past practice of visible service hours and warm-up hours in recent years. “Whether for bathroom breaks/change of clothes or other areas, we must continue to study and explore possible adjustments to the rules that can positively affect the pace of the game for our fans and ensure the fairness and integrity of the game.” said in the statement.
While tennis players are often reluctant to weigh in on each other’s arguments, many couldn’t resist.
“Andy is right!” Canadian Milos Raonic, who injured his right leg at the US Open, posted to twitter Monday night.
Asked if Novak Djokovic was the favorite at the US Open after his first-round win on Tuesday, Alexander Zverev managed to fit a dig at Tsitsipas in his answer.
“Stefanos could play well if he didn’t go to the moon and take a bathroom break, that would help,” Zverev said with a grin.
Zverev had previously filed charges against him during the semi-final match of the Western and Southern Open in August in Tsitsipas, accusing him of using a cell phone off the court to illegally communicate with his coach and father, Apostolos, about tactics.
Zverev reiterated his suspicions on Tuesday. “More than 10 minutes gone; his father is texting on the phone,” said Zverev. “He goes out and suddenly his tactic has completely changed. Everyone saw it, not just me. The whole game plan changes. It’s either a very magical place he’s been to or it’s like there’s communication there.
“But I don’t want to disrespect him either,” Zverev added. “He’s a great player.”
Tsitsipas denied cheating on Monday.
“I’ve never done that in my career; I don’t know what kind of imagination it takes to get to that point,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s not something I want to take seriously because it’s absolutely ridiculous to think about it.”
Tsitsipas received support from the American player Reilly Opelka, who also took a long break in the first round win.
“We moisturize too much; we have to use the bathroom,” said Opelka.
“If people don’t understand this, then clearly they haven’t spent a day in the life of a professional athlete or approached him,” Opelka said.
Murray, who has spent most of his days as a professional athlete, concluded the press conference by saying it was embarrassing that a five-hour match between two top players was marred by distraction tactics.
“I’m sitting here after a game like this against one of the best players in the world, and I’m here not talking about how great he was, how good he was for the game, how great he was for me. Murray said, “After all that’s happened over the last four years, I’m here to put on a performance like this. I’m sitting here talking about bathroom breaks, medical breaks and delays in games,” he said. “This is bullshit. I don’t think that’s true.”
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