In 2021, Andy Murray came back from yet another setback towards the twilight of his career, having suffered a groin injury at the Miami Open earlier in the season.
After being sidelined for several months, the Briton returned to action at Wimbledon, reaching the third round before falling to Denis Shapovalov.
Following a second-round exit in Cincinnati, Murray then made his 15th appearance at the US Open, where he drew third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening match.
It was a tough draw for the three-time major champion, who was about to go toe-to-toe with Tsitsipas for the first time in his career, with the Greek enjoying his best season on tour to date.
Andy Murray’s first meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas on tour
The two delivered an incredible match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, going five sets in a bout that lasted nearly five hours.
Tsitsipas ultimately emerged victorious, but by Murray’s own account, not fairly.
Frustration boiled over for the former world number one, who, in the decisive fifth set, told the umpire his opponent was ‘cheating’ for taking extended bathroom breaks between games.
“I spoke to my team before the match about it and said to expect that, prepare for it if things were not going his way,” Murray said in his press conference after the defeat.
“You cannot stop the way 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.
“I think when he took the medical timeout, it was just after I had won the third set. Also in the fourth set when I had Love-30, he chose to go — I don’t know if he changed his racquet or what he was doing.
It can’t be a 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. He was fine, moving great I thought.
“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 an influence on what was happening after those breaks.
The rule changes Andy Murray suggested after his loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas
When asked if he wanted the officials to step in, Murray responded: “Ultimately, they can’t do anything because the rules are there.
“But I sit on the player council, and we speak about it all of the time, about changing these rules, trying to make it less easy for the rules to be exploited I guess.
“Some suggestions are if you take a medical timeout or a break before, let’s say, my serve, that you forfeit the game. I just start the set 1-Love up. That’s one thing that’s sort of been discussed.
“A couple of other things are like you get two five-minute breaks during a match or something, and that’s it. There’s various different suggestions that are out there.”
After beating Murray in round one, Tsitsipas bowed out in the third round to then-18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz.
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