Andy Murray has competed in Wimbledon night finishes multiple times. Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman
Andy Murray accused the grand — criticized tournaments, including Wimbledon, in the pursuit of money due to his obsession with night sessions and late starts.
Speaking to his 16- At the US Open — the event where he broke his 2012 Grand Slam duck — Murray suggested that major tournaments need to rethink their schedules for the benefit of fans and players alike.
This is Murray's third major tournament of the year after he missed the French Open and had late game problems in both previous two matches.
At the Australian Open in January, he left the court straight away after 4 am after his epic five-set victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis. Because of this, he was too exhausted to show himself against Roberto Bautista Aguta in the third round.
Then, at Wimbledon, Murray led the second round meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas by two sets to one when play was suspended overnight due to the approaching 11:00 pm curfew. When restarted the next day, he lost both remaining sets, and with them the match.
«In general, this does not benefit anyone,» Murray said of the night matches. “A lot of times when players complain about stuff like this, you hear, ‘Oh, shut up and keep going. Try working in a warehouse from nine to five.
«I understand it. I know that I am lucky that I play tennis. Just tennis is also partly entertainment. I don't think it helps the sport much when you play at 4am. Everyone leaves because they have to go home by public transport, and you finish such a match in front of 10 percent of the audience. You won't find this in other sports, so it's clearly wrong.
“The reason is purely financial. It's not because the people who run the competition think it's good for the sport. They could solve this problem. If they want to start at 19.30, two women's matches can be played. Or if they want to play a men's match, you can only play one match if you're not going to start earlier.
“At Wimbledon, obviously, it is necessary to change the kick-off time [from 13:30 this year] and move it earlier. Stop taking 20-minute breaks between matches. This can happen from time to time, but you do your best to avoid it. And I think that would be fair to the players then, because you can't expect anyone to recover if you finish a match at 4:30 am.»
Andy Murray's Wimbledon match against Stefanos Tsitsipas was abandoned late at night. Photo: Getty Imahes/Mike Hewitt
Murray is due to start his US Open campaign on Tuesday against Corentin Moutet, the world No. 72 Frenchman. He hasn't had much preparation: two weeks ago he withdrew from the third round match in Toronto with an abdominal injury, but he insists he's in good shape now.
“First five or six the days [after the withdrawal] were a bit difficult,” Murray explained. “There were many different opinions. Then I arrived in New York quite early, went to one of the local hospitals and spoke with a radiologist from home. I had a small tear that is healing and the last five or six days of training have gone very well, I have not had any problems with the supply. It's just that you don't take a week off from the service and then completely immerse yourself in it. You need to gain some strength. It wasn't perfect in that sense, but my abs are fine.»
Meanwhile, Lili Miyazaki became the first Briton since Emma Radukanou to qualify for the US Open, beating Viktoria Hrunkakova 6-3 . , 4-6, score 6-4 on Sunday. However, it is unlikely that Miyazaki — a 27-year-old boy, ranked 199th in the rankings — will win the title, as Radukanu did in 2021.
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