Stefanos Tsitsipas Defends His Toilet Break Against Andy Murray Says He Didn T Break Any Rules

Although Tsitsipas and Murray both played some scintillating tennis during the encounter, the quality of the match was sullied by a controversy surrounding the former’s bathroom break. Tsitsipas took a seven-minute break at the end of the fourth set, which did not sit well with his opponent at all.

Andy Murray looked absolutely livid with Stefanos Tsitsipas for stalling the match, and even spoke to US Open match supervisor Gerry Armstrong about the Greek’s alleged gamesmanship. Murray got broken right after the resumption of play, and during his post-match press conference he claimed he had ’lost respect’ for the youngster.

But Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is known to take toilet breaks in longer matches, was quick to offer a defense. During his post-match press conference, the 23-year-old claimed he had played by the rules during the match, and that he would like to sort the issue out with Murray privately.

According to the rulebook, a player is entitled to one two toilet breaks during a best-of-five-sets match, which means Stefanos Tsitsipas was following the letter of the law. However, Andy Murray highlighted that the Greek’s break came at an important stage of the match, and that it was physically difficult for him to get back in high gear after such a long break.

When told about Murray’s point, Tsitsipas insisted he took the break just to change his clothes, and that he needed that much time to do that.

“I don’t know what kind of imagination it takes to go to that point” - Stefanos Tsitsipas on illegal coaching claims

Stefanos Tsitsipas was also asked about his controversial toilet break during his three-set loss to eventual champion Alexander Zverev at the 2021 Cincinnati Masters. The Greek was accused by his opponent of sneaking in his phone with him during the break to discuss strategy with his father Apostolos.

Although Tsitsipas has gained some notoriety for receiving on-court coaching during matches, on Monday he opined that the allegation of getting coaching while in the bathroom was “absolutely ridiculous”.

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