Wimbledon’s Murray-Tsitsipas match of the day is now match of the days
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WIMBLEDON, England — The grounds of the All England Club teemed in earnest for the first time Thursday after two days of rain. Souvenir shops bustled, and the pathways were packed as if their fans were hustling at the U.S. Open, not strolling the stately brick walks of Wimbledon. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight “Murray Mount,” the slope of earth formerly known as Henman Hill alongside Court 18 where people bring their blankets and their Pimm’s to watch the biggest matches of the day on a big screen, positively bulged.
It was probably the weather. Or the coming weekend. But much of the crowd purchased their tickets ahead of time, and they have no way of telling who’s going to be on the schedule, after all.
And on the Thursday schedule was a second-round clash between Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Let’s hope some of them bought tickets for Friday as well.
The sea of humanity that showed up for the tennis here saw only the front end of a brewing cage match as one of Wimbledon’s many quirks set in to stop the show and plunge the tournament’s already mucked-up schedule into further chaos. There is an 11 p.m. curfew at Wimbledon, and when the second-set tiebreaker in the Murray-Tsitsipas match arrived shortly after 9:40 p.m., after 1 hour 54 minutes of play, it seemed there might be trouble.
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Tournament officials halted the match at 10:39 p.m. local time. The break might have fallen at a natural stopping point — Murray had just captured the third set to lead 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 — if there had not been such drama directly before the break.
With the curfew inching closer and Centre Court erupting with every point, Murray took a wrong step serving at 40-15 and fell to the ground, grabbing his groin and screaming in agony as he rolled over, losing the point. After he righted himself awkwardly and stood to serve, Tsitsipas did him a massive favor and sent a return long. Set, Murray.
Even Murray’s mother, Judy, who has seen her share of events on Centre Court, shook her head in disbelief at that.
Tsitsipas and Murray’s postponement muddles an already crowded Friday schedule on Centre Court. Play does not begin until 1:30 p.m. on the tournament’s biggest stage, and officials must squeeze in two full men’s singles matches and one full women’s singles match in addition to potentially two remaining sets of Murray-Tsitsipas.
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Those lucky ticket holders may never leave their seats: Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz is set to open play against Alexandre Muller, followed by the resumption of Murray-Tsitsipas. Top-seeded Iga Swiatek then faces 30th-seeded Petra Martic, all of it a lead up to a real humdinger of a closing act: Novak Djokovic against Stan Wawrinka in the final match of the day.
That’s a lot to cram in in less than 10 hours.
But cram they must because Wimbledon’s schedule is, beg pardon, shot to hell. The first round finally wrapped up just after 3:20 p.m. here, on the fourth day of the tournament, two days later than initially planned. It was Alexander Zverev who closed it with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) victory over qualifier Gijs Brouwer.
“Took me three days,” Zverev said, “but I’m here. I’m happy about that.”
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There were 73 singles and doubles matches completed Thursday. On Friday, some will be finishing up their second-round matches as others conclude their third. The near-total rainout Tuesday meant many are playing matches with much less rest than usual, and grass courts are already prone to fostering tightly knotted matches. The slick surface makes serves fast and their bounces unpredictable and low, meaning it can be more difficult for players to break service.
It’s even more difficult for tired players to break service, so matches groaned along across the grounds. Tiebreakers were achingly common.
For the 36-year-old Murray, there is a question of whether rest might do him good after his apparent injury or halt his momentum. The suspension took the air out of Centre Court, where fans had waited all day for the third meeting between Murray and Tsitsipas, 24, in anticipation of a high-quality match with a little extra zip to it.
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In the era of polished sportsmanship and fond hugs at net, there is some delightful frostiness between the two owing to a 2021 victory by Tsitsipas over Murray at the U.S. Open during which Tsitsipas took more than seven minutes for a bathroom break mid-match — uncommon but within the rules — and Murray said he “lost respect” for his young opponent.
Tsitsipas had little support when they took to the court Thursday. He took a more reasonably timed bathroom break after the second set and was roundly booed by Centre Court upon return. When Murray broke him to take a 1-0 lead to start the third set, the place came practically undone, tilting from hushed to exalting in a millisecond. The crowd was silent when Murray fell, his scream echoing throughout the stadium, and apoplectic when he won the set anyway.
It was all worthy of the slugfest happening on court, though the anticlimactic ending was decidedly not. Friday promises more drama — almost a few days’ worth.
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Source: The Washington Post
