'Not happy!' - Andy Murray furiously blasts ball after 'outrageous' shot from opponent at Australian Open

ByDan Quarrell

Published 18/01/2022 at 07:53 GMT

At 1-1 in the fourth set tie-break, Andy Murray saw a perfectly solid groundstroke returned with a brutal backhand winner from his opponent, Nikoloz Basilashvili, and he could not quite believe what had happened. Murray reacted by whacking a loose ball away on the court in frustration with the Eurosport commentators noting that he was "not happy".

Andy Murray angrily blasted a ball in frustration after an 'outrageous' shot from opponent, Nikoloz Basilashvili, at the Australian Open.

The emotions were running high from both players in what was a topsy-turvy match which went all the way to five sets on John Cain Arena.

Murray, a wildcard selection for a tournament he has been a runner-up at five times, won the first and third sets before being pegged back on both occasions.

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At 1-1 in the fourth set tie-break, the Brit saw a perfectly solid groundstroke returned with a brutal backhand winner from his opponent, and he could not quite believe what had happened.

Murray reacted by whacking a loose ball away on the court in frustration with the Eurosport commentators noting that he was "not happy".

"Oh, that is simply stunning!" said Barry Cowan, on commentary for Eurosport at the time.

"Outrageous from Basilashvili. That's almost shocked everyone with that backhand.

"Murray not happy!"

Earlier on in the dramatic match, Murray was left very surprised in a strange moment as Basilashvili sliced a wild serve into the crowd.

Basilashvili, who had the Melbourne Park crowd very much against him, lost his technique and/or his composure with a delivery you rarely ever see from a professional tennis player.

'You don't often see that!' - Murray looks on baffled as Basilashvili slices serve into crowd

At the start of his second service game, Basilashvili completely failed to make contact with the ball besides the top of the frame of his racquet.

Accompanied by cheers and jeers from the vociferous crowd, he watched on in embarrassment as the ball flew into the stands at a very unusual angle.

Murray enjoyed his finest week of tennis in years in Australia prior to the main draw at Melbourne Park as he made an unexpected run to the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic final, his first ATP final since 2019.

Although he was outclassed in the final by Russian Aslan Karatsev, who saw off the former world No. 1 6-3 6-3, the Brit was able to come to Melbourne full of confidence ahead of his first-round match.

Murray, who had to spend much of the lead-up to the tournament having to comment on the Novak Djokovic deportation saga, was roared on by the crowd on John Cain Arena as a very popular player in Australia.

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