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Updated September 2nd, 2021 at 16:20 IST

Stefanos Tsitsipas booed by audience for lengthy loo break; Andy Murray throws fresh jibe

Stefanos Tsitsipas has come under fresh criticism after taking another long bathroom break during his latest match against Mannarino.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Image Credits: AP | Image:self
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Stefanos Tsitsipas has come under fresh criticism after taking another long bathroom break in between his latest match. The Greek tennis star beat world number 44 Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0, but walked out to boos after he took another long seven to eight-minute-long bathroom break after he had lost the third set. Mannarino was visibly annoyed by something that many players on the tour have started to consider a stall tactic. On Thursday morning, Andy Murray took another jibe at the Greek tennis star with a Twitter post sarcastically asking if "anything interesting" had happened overnight, obviously referring to the long bathroom break by Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas booed at Arthur Ashe after long bathroom break; defends himself

Tsitsipas defended himself by saying that he did not do anything wrong. "I haven't done anything wrong, so I don't understand," Tsitsipas said in a post-match press conference quoted by USA Today. "The people love the sport, they come to watch tennis. I have nothing against them. I love the fans. But some people don't understand. That's all. They don't understand. They haven't played tennis at high level to understand how much effort and how much difficult it is to do what we are doing."

Tsitsipas stalling tactic vs Murray

The Andy Murray vs Tsitsipas match was labelled as the blockbuster match on the opening day of the US Open 2021 and the contest lived up to its billing as both players ended up playing five-set. At the conclusion of the contest, it was Stefanos Tsitsipas who made it through to the next stage of the tournament with a 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 6-3 6-4 win over Andy Murray.  However, the match witnessed its own share of controversy with Murray fuming over Tsitsipas taking a long bathroom break ahead of the start of the fifth set.

Murray was furious at Stefanos for taking an eight-minute toilet break before the fifth set of their first-round match. Tsitsipas took a bathroom break within the rules but the length of the break, which was around eight minutes long. Following this, Murray was furious while complaining to officials. 

Before the fifth set Tsitsipas had left the court for a toilet break at the end of the second set and then had a medical time-out to treat his foot injury before the fourth set. However, the second toilet break from the Greek upset Andy Murray who also lashed out at the supervisor. In an earlier tweet posted by Murray, he said that in the time Stefanos took for his bathroom break, Jeff Bezos would have made it to space. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Murray said, “It's not so much leaving the court. It's the amount of time. It's nonsense and he knows it. 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. It's just disappointing because I feel it influenced the outcome of the match I'm not saying I necessarily win that match, for sure, but it had influence on what was happening after those breaks.”

(Image Credits: AP)

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Published September 2nd, 2021 at 16:20 IST

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