Right after slipping at the rear of 2-1 in the to start with 3 sets Friday at the U.S. Open up towards 18-12 months-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas encountered boos at Arthur Ashe Stadium when he exited the court for a lavatory crack ahead of the start of the fourth established.
Tsitsipas has lately arrive beneath fire by other players on the ATP Tour for getting benefit of the imprecise wording in the 2021 Grand Slam rulebook pertaining to lavatory breaks and improve of attire breaks. The rule does not checklist a limit for how very long the break should final.
Tsitsipas has been accused by other players, which include Andy Murray, of working with this time to text with his father, Apostolos, who is his coach. After falling to Tsitsipas in a 5-established initial-spherical match that bundled a person of these long breaks, Murray mentioned he took challenge additional with the size of the break, alternatively than the split itself. In this U.S. Open up, Tsitsipas’ breaks have lasted about 7-8 minutes.
His break on Friday afternoon was substantially shorter than some of his earlier types at the Open. Soon after tournament officials escorted him into the lavatory upcoming to the courtroom, he returned to the court docket in less than 4 minutes. This supervision was new in preceding matches, he’d been allowed to stroll to the rest room (or locker-place) on his own.
The crack appeared to give him a large elevate, however, as he took the fourth set 6-. But Tsitsipas dropped the fifth established in a dramatic tiebreaker, ending his U.S. Open up run.
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