Wimbledon tennis - 'I don't believe what I just saw' - Andy Murray nightmare in third set stuns John McEnroe

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 28/06/2021 at 20:06 GMT

"I don't believe what I just saw!" the American tennis legend exclaimed as Nikoloz Basilashvili celebrated, having roared back from 5-0 down and staring at defeat against Andy Murray. "He lost his serve four times in a row. He hadn't lost his serve before! What in God's name did we just see here?! Can someone explain this to me? How in the world did he just win that set?"

John McEnroe could not believe what he was watching as Andy Murray squandered a 5-0 lead when serving for the match against Nikoloz Basilashvili in the third set.

Murray appeared to be well on course to mark his long-awaited comeback at Wimbledon with a straight-sets victory in the first round of the tournament when the match took a crazy turn for him.

The 34-year-old, who has seemingly endured no end of injury woes over the last few years, delighted the Centre Court crowd as he roared into a 6-4 6-3 5-0 lead and was seemingly cruising.

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Yet somehow, Basilashvili staged a remarkable recovery when facing near-certain defeat, to break four times in succession to win seven games on the bounce. He even saved two match points.

John McEnroe, on commentary for the BBC, had described Murray's performance up until that point as a "beautiful display of grass-court tennis, along with an excellent game plan that has just befuddled Basilashvili".

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But after watching the Brit squander seven games in succession to somehow lose the third set and seemingly all of the momentum in the match, he admitted that he was totally stunned.

Britain's Andy Murray reacts after losing the third set to Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili during their men's singles first round match on the first day of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships

Image credit: Getty Images

"I don't believe what I just saw!" the American tennis legend exclaimed as Basilashvili celebrated.

"You have to look at the glass half full and give credit to the guy for coming back, but it looked like he quit a few games earlier and you can't believe this guy is competing on the Centre Court at Wimbledon.

"He's playing Andy Murray and he's got one foot out of the door, and the next thing you know, he gets a break back. Second break, okay. Third break - you lose that, and you're still in it.

"He lost his serve four times in a row. He hadn't lost his serve before! What in God's name did we just see here?! Can someone explain this to me? How in the world did he just win that set?"

The winner of Murray v Basilashvili will next take on a qualifier as France's Arthur Rinderknech and Oscar Otte of Germany prepare to battle it out in their opening-round match. A third-round clash with Denis Shapovalov - the 10th seed - could then await.

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Watch daily evening highlights of all the best action from Wimbledon on Eurosport 1, plus the men's and women's finals live on Eurosport 2. All coverage is also available to stream via eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.

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