MELBOURNE, Jan 20 — An exhausted Andy Murray still had enough left in the tank to blast tennis officials after an epic five-set comeback second round win at the Australian Open finished just after 4am on Friday (1700 GMT on Thursday), well beyond the usual grand slam midnight madness.
As fans trudged home for a few hours’ sleep or headed directly to work after watching Murray stage a fight back for the ages, rallying from two sets and 2-5 down to beat home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis 4-6 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 7-5, the fired up Scot tore into tennis officials, labelling them “disrespectful.”
Murray said he respected the rules but criticized having to play until 3 or 4 a.m. “and you’re not allowed to go and take a piss.”
“It’s a joke, it’s a joke. You know it as well.”
“It’s disrespectful to you, disrespectful to the ball children, disrespectful to the players and we are not allowed to go to the toilet.
“Ridiculous!”
The Australian Open routinely has matches run into the early morning but former grand slam champion turned commentator John McEnroe said the Melbourne midnight madness on this occasion crossed over into insanity and called on officials to implement rules so it never happens again.
“I am stunned in disbelief that they were still playing at that hour,” McEnroe told Eurosport. “For starters, it was insane that matches at that level are played 4 to 4:30 a.m. in the morning.”
Most elite sports do not hold their biggest events into the wee hours of the morning after most fans have gone to bed.
McEnroe noted that the World Cup, Super Bowl or NBA Finals are not played at such odd hours, although the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, which do not have shootouts, have had games decided in the early morning.
McEnroe also pointed out that the late finish and energy put out by Murray during the five-hour-45-minute struggle puts the 35-year-old at a competitive disadvantage as he tries to recover for his third round clash with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, who also needed five sets to see off American Brandon Holt. — Reuters
