Andy Murray has revealed he has lost all respect for Stefanos Tsitsipas after the Greek’s tactical toilet break during their five set thriller at the US Open.
The three-time grand slam rolled back the years as he pushed world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas all the way at the US Open.
However it was Tsitsipas who outlasted the Brit 2-6 7-6(7) 3-6 6-3 6-4 in four hours and 50 minutes to reach the second round.
Despite the result it was Tsitsipas’ tactical toilet breaks which once again made all the headlines with the 3rd seed taking a 7 minute toilet break after the fourth set.
Something that angered Murray throughout the fifth set resulting in the former world number one’s defeat.
After the match in his press conference Murray revealed that he lost all respect for the world number three, “Yeah, 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 influence on what was happening after those breaks. But the issue is that you cannot stop the way that that affects you physically. When you’re playing a brutal match like that, you know, stopping for seven, eight minutes, you
do cool down.
“You can prepare for it mentally as much as you like, but it’s the fact that it does affect you physically when you take a break that long, well, multiple times during the match. “It can’t be 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.
“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.”
This isn’t the only time this has happened with Alexander Zverev complaining about Tsitsipas’s behaviour in Cincinnati not only about toilet breaks but also with coaching.
It will be interesting to see if anything happens in terms of rule changes with Murray revealing that as part of the player’s council they have already discuss any amendments that they can make.
On his own performance Murray was pretty satisfied with how he held up physically against one of the best players in the world but was ultimately left disappointed with the result, “I mean, I’ve said it a lot over this last few months, that I know I’m capable of playing that tennis,” Murray claimed.
“I need to spend time on the court, getting the chance to play against these guys. Ultimately when I get on the court with them, need to prove it. I guess tonight I proved some things to a certain extent.
“From a physical perspective, I thought I did quite well. Would have liked to have done a little bit better physically at times. But there was also other circumstances that were not helping that either. Overall I did well tonight, but I’m really, really disappointed, really disappointed after that, frustrated, all those things.”
Who knows what the short term and long term future holds for Murray but one thing is certain and that is Murray is not done just yet as he is still capable of hanging with the best in the world over five sets.
There are a couple of weeks of indoor tournaments for Murray before the next big event in Indian Wells which starts on the 7th of October.
