Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas caused a storm at the US Open with his lengthy, ill-timed eight minute bathroom break, leaving three time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray, annoyed and frustrated.
According to reports cited by Reuters, the ATP might review the rules for toilet breaks as there’s currently no time limit on these breaks.
Murray accused 23-year-old Tsitsipas of gamesmanship, saying that it influenced the game after Tsitsipas left the court before the fifth set of his first-round match. Murray, who complained that the amount of time caused him to lose adrenaline and stiffen up, immediately had his serve broken and lost the deciding set 6-4.
After the match, Murray said “I lost respect for him”, calling on something to be done regarding players who abuse the rule that allows them to take restroom breaks or call for medical timeouts.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev picked up on this trend as well, saying “It’s happening every match. It’s not normal,” as per USA Today. He went on to say: “Either it’s a very magical place he goes to or there is communication there. But I also don’t want to disrespect him. He is a great player. He is No. 3 in the world for a reason.
“He’s winning tournaments and playing incredible tennis this year for a reason, so it’s not only that. But I do believe, and Andy said it, as well, there is some level of respect that everybody needs to have between players. I feel like, yeah, sometimes – or he might just go to the toilet. We don’t know that. That’s also possible. But it just happens too often, I would say.”
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Picture: Twitter /@WilliamHill