A day after his exit from the US Open Andy Murray was clearly still annoyed by the actions of his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas during the first round clash on Monday.
In what was a roller-coaster five-set epic on the Arthur Ashe stadium, both players battled valiantly with Murray at times producing tennis which was reminiscent of the form which took him to world No.1 a few years ago. With each player winning two sets, the showdown was heading into a decider. Tsitsipas had won the fourth set and the momentum was on his side but then the match stopped. Not due to adverse weather or a medical timeout. It was simply because the Greek left the court to change his clothes which is allowed. Although his absence from the court was eight minutes in total which was controversial, to say the least.
“It’s not so much leaving the court. It’s the amount of time. I spoke to my team before the match about it and said to expect that, prepare for it if things were not going his way. So I was trying to do that,” Murray said during his press conference.
“I think when he took the medical timeout, it was just after I had won the third set. Also in the fourth set when I had Love-30, he chose to go — I don’t know if he changed his racquet or what we was doing. It can’t be a coincidence that it’s happening at those moments. I don’t believe it was causing him any issue at all. The match went on for another two and a bit hours after that or something. He was fine, moving great I thought,” he added.
After proclaiming he has lost respect for the world No.3, Murray continued to express his frustration the following day on social media. On Twitter, he didn’t hold back when cracking a joke about Tsitsipas’ breaks during matches.
In response Tsitsipas’ brother, Petros replied ‘never expected this kind of behaviour, from a supposedly tennis legend,’ before later deleting his comment. So is Murray wrong to react as he did or should Tsitsipas be held accountable for his tactics?
To add some context to the situation, Tsitsipas has a history of taking these kinds of breaks. In fact, Essentially Sports have documented at least four other incidents where a player has commented on it. Perhaps the most controversial statement was from Alexander Zverev who claimed he took his phone with him during a break in their match at the Western and Southern Open. Something that is against the rules as communicating with others during matches is prohibited. Tsitsipas and his team have denied doing such a thing.
Evidently, there is a pattern forming with Tsitsipas being among others players to go down the route of taking long breaks during matches. The idea being it is tactical in order for them to regroup. Former player Anabel Croft commented on Amazon Prime that Tsitsipas learned the value of a bathroom break during his clash with Novak Djokovic at the French Open who came back to beat the Greek following a brief halt he requested.
Nevertheless, the outcry shouldn’t so much be about Tsitsipas and where he potentially learned his tactics from. The questions need to be about what can be done to address the issue.
“I don’t think Stefanos does it on purpose to break down the rhythm of an opponent. I think he’s just taking his time and probably no one is telling him ‘OK, hurry up’. That’s where the supervisors should be more aware, to say ‘listen, you can’t spend 10 minutes after the second or third set,” former player Alex Corretja told Eurosport.
This is where the real problem lies. Whether or not Tsitsipas conducts bad sportsmanship during matches doesn’t really matter at the moment simply because he is within his right to do so. Which he acknowledged during his own press conference. There are no rules to counteract such an issue which has prompted reigning US Open champion, Dominic Thiem, to call for action.
“There should be a time limit to that because if you go out to change all your clothes, it doesn’t take long, 3-4 minutes, maximum 5, so there should be a time limit on that,’ Thiem told The Tennis Channel. “I heard Andy’s (Murray) press conference and he was right. It (a long break) just cools down your body and you are getting stiff and it is not easy at all.”
Murray says there are currently discussions underway among the ATP Player Council concerning how they can tackle the issue of breaks during matches being used for the wrong reasons. In the meantime, expect more showdowns like Murray-Tsitsipas to happen on Tour.
