Australian Open: 'What is he doing here?!' - Stefanos Tsitsipas baffled by Andy Murray returning after 4am epic
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Updated 20/01/2023 at 06:58 GMT
Andy Murray just cannot get enough of the Australian Open. Remarkably, the Brit returned to Melbourne Park just eight hours after his marathon victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis in their second-round clash - and surely after very little sleep. It was astonishing for everyone to see Murray back at the venue so soon after the wild match, including a stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas.
'What is he doing here?' - Tsitsipas on what he said to Murray on day after epic match
Stefanos Tsitsipas has revealed what he thought when he saw that Andy Murray had returned to the Australian Open hours after his epic, gone-4am victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round on Thursday night.
The huge-hearted 35-year-old roared back from two sets down to beat Kokkinakis in a marathon match that lasted five hours and 45 minutes and finished well beyond 4am in Melbourne.
It was Murray’s second five-set match of the 2023 Australian Open after he was also pushed the distance by Italy's Matteo Berrettini in the first round, meaning he has already come through two titanic battles.
It was also the longest match of Murray's career with the former world No. 1 having come so close to retiring at the Australian Open in 2019 and undergone two very serious hip surgeries in recent years.
Tsitsipas was asked in his press conference about the crazy timing of the finish of the match, and also about seeing Murray back at Melbourne Park just hours after his victory the night before.
"Well, it is no fun for Andy," Tsitsipas said with a smile.
"I saw him today before my match and I was thinking to myself 'what is he doing here?!' That’s the nature of it, what can you do?
"He started it at a reasonable time, I would say, there is a rule in place, they didn’t break any rules, the match started at 10 o’clock. Yeah, Kokkinakis made it long; Murray made it long too.
"I think tennis likes this kind of matches because there is a story behind them - there is a great story behind this match and it’s going to be remembered. I do remember very vividly the match [Marcos] Baghdatis played with [Lleyton] Hewitt, it’s somewhere back inside my mind somewhere.
"I do remember this moment, it’s a very magical moment, for sure. Not for the one who loses because it’s painful, and on one side it’s painful, on the other it is pretty good because you don’t have to deal with the jet lag coming back to Europe, which helps."
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Murray is already back at Australian Open just hours after crazy 4am finish
Speaking after the match, Murray said: “It was unbelievable that I managed to turn that around.
“Thanasi was serving unbelievable, hitting his forehand huge, and I don’t know how I managed to get through it.
“I did start playing better as the match went on, and yeah, I have a big heart.”
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‘Disrespectful, ridiculous!’ – Murray slams Australian Open rules as match goes past 3am
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