Andy Murray has played his best match since his hip injury but still lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets at the US Open.
The match brought a lot of controversies after Murray said that he “lost respect” for the third seed accusing him of “cheating” after Tsitsipas was taking lengthy bathroom breaks.
After the Greek won the fourth set for 2-2 he took an eight-minute toilet break before the deciding set.
After returning to the court, Tistispas went on to win the final set for a 2-6 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
“It’s not so much leaving the court. It’s the amount of time,” Murray said. “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.”
Tsitsipas technically didn’t break any rules as he also left the court for a toilet break after the second set and had a medical treatment on his foot after the third.
“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.”
The decisive game was the first one in the final set when Tsitsipas broke Murray’s serve and the 34-year-old Scot didn’t manage to come back.
Murray also complained to chair umpire Nico Helwerth and the match supervisor Gerry Armstrong on the length of time taken by Tsitsipas.
“It’s never taken me that long to go to the bathroom ever,” Murray told Armstrong.
Tsitsipas was sure he didn’t do anything wrong and said that he has followed the guidelines during his career.
According to the rules, players are allowed two breaks for using the toilet and changing clothes in a five-set match, with breaks only permitted at the end of a set.
