Precisely, Nole made a stop at boxes in the final of the last Rolando Garros, when he was two sets down against the Greek, which served to completely reverse the dynamics of the pulse. “His secret weapon”, he pointed The Wall Street Journal in July, referring to number one. Without going any further, Murray himself, who years ago acknowledged that the maneuver helped him decide the final of the 2012 US Open against Novak Djokovic, another player who is credited with a sophisticated handling of interruptions. This time it is Tsitsipas, but they are and have been many others.
“They talk about it all the time, but nothing is done and these things continue to happen”, underlines the Scotsman, who, already cold, influenced criticism with irony: “Stefanos Tsitsipas has twice the difficulty of going to the bathroom than Jeff Bezos fly into space.
The pause is often extended beyond 10 minutes ”, laments Brad Gilbert, a prestigious coach of tennis players like Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick or Murray himself. There are those who simply abide by it, but voices abound that argue that it should be reviewed, following Murray’s recommendation. Rule ( Toilet break) continues to generate controversy. In accordance with Grand Slam Rule Book, the book that specifies the rules in major tournaments, players have the right to take two breaks in five-set matches and one in three-set matches, both to use the bathroom and to change clothes, but not “for no other reason ” They can only do it between sets and a specific time is not required, but simply appeals to a “reasonable” band and details that more breaks can be used, but that they will be penalized according to the Penalty Point system, which punishes depending on the degree of the offense. In any case, the scene is not new: the tennis players and the bathroom, an old and recurring controversy. Murray protests during the match at Arthur Ashe. It already happened in Paris and it will happen in all the tournaments in which he plays ”, Alexander Zverev denounced two weeks ago, when both were measured in the semifinals of Cincinnati and Tsitsipas also retired to the locker room, insinuating the German who had taken advantage of the stay to exchange messages with his father, and at the same time technical. “He takes everything to the locker room and on top of that his father is there, with his cell phone.
I think we should talk to analyze what happened, I have absolutely nothing against him, “said the number three in the world, whose classmates have taken his registration since, they say, he repeats tricks. “I don’t think I have broken any rules, I follow the ATP regulations. Tsitsipas, for her part, spoke aseptically and as if she had never broken a plate. I appreciate him, but I don’t like these things. “In the two and a half hours that the game has lasted then, his knee has not bothered him … It did not give that he had won, but this has affected. when he won the third set, and that in the fourth he stopped the action in a delicate situation (0-30 against) to change racket. I spoke with my team before starting and he told them that something like this could happen if things didn’t go well for him, but you can’t stop the game that way, “Murray reproached him, who also recalled that his opponent had already requested medical assistance. “It is not because of the fact that it is gone, but because of the time it has taken. However, the Athenian lingered for more than eight minutes More than enough time, Murray understood, for his body and hips to cool down, and in this way his game lost vigor and his rival faced the fifth set benefited by the pause. Until then, the duel was resolved between nuances, on a very narrow edge that was broken when the young Tsitsipas (23) picked up his bag and went to the locker room to, theoretically, change his clothes and refresh himself. The spark that lit Murray’s flame was the Greek’s maneuver in the transition from fourth to fifth.