Andy Murray slams late match start after losing in Davis Cup to USA
ATP
Andy Murray wasn't impressed after he had to play during the night at the 2022 Davis Cup Finals.
The late-night finishes have been an issue in tennis for quite some time. They once again came into the spotlight after Great Britain's Davis Cup Finals tie against the United States.
The two countries met in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals. The tie started at 4 p.m. local time at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
In the first singles match, Tommy Paul defeated Daniel Evans in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. That match lasted two hours and 34 minutes.
After that, naturally, it took some time before the next two players got onto the court. Taylor Fritz battled it out with Cameron Norrie, and to the delight of the home crowd, the British player won 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-5.
The second match was also a three-set battle. It lasted two hours and 14 minutes. Since both singles matches were three-setters, the last doubles match started relatively late at around 10 p.m. local time.
Surprisingly, it proved to be the longest battle, as players stayed on the court for two hours and 49 minutes. Ultimately, Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock beat Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
Speaking after the loss, Murray was angry that he had to stay on the court so late, but he was also angry for the fans, who probably had to look for challenging solutions when it came to transport.
"It would be better if they were earlier I think for everyone involved. I don’t think it’s ideal for the fans. That match that we played there, there’s probably half of the people in there at the end of the match that was there at the beginning."
"It’s a bit of a shame because they missed a great match. It’s not probably because they didn’t want to stay. If you got children here, you can’t stay with them. You got to get a bus or train home. Can’t do it."
The former ATP World No. 1 player doesn't think such scheduling makes tennis look good, especially since it's not a one-time issue but a problem that also appeared at the US Open this year.
"They’re (Team USA) probably not going to be tucked up in their beds until, I don’t know what the time is, probably 3:30, 4:00 in the morning by the time they’ve done their recovery and managed to sort of calm down after a tie like that."
"It’s not just here. We’ve seen it obviously at the US Open even just last week. It’s something that tennis needs to sort of have a bit of a think about. I don’t think it looks that professional."
