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Whether marvelling at the resilience of both players, praising Brit Andy Murray for playing at an elite level with a surgically repaired hip, or bemoaning the ridiculously late finish, the Australian Open's latest marathon night match gave fans plenty of time to think and opine.
Key points:
- The post-4am finish was criticised, as the match carried on for five hours and 45 minutes
- John McEnroe says this match cements Andy Murray's reputation as a great of the modern era
- Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley rules out changing the match scheduling but says it will be reviewed
A five-time finalist at Melbourne Park, Murray is no stranger to long nights on the blue hard court, but his 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis took things to another level.
As impressive as the performances were by both injury-prone players, they and others pointed out it was a bit silly to have a match ending just before sunrise.
Meanwhile, 18-time grand slam singles champion Martina Navratilova urged organisers to find a way to avoid the schedule being so cramped after a couple of rainy days.
Murray clearly agreed, shouting "Why are we playing at 3am?" during a particularly long game in the fourth set.
In his on-court interview with the host broadcaster, Murray thanked fans for sticking around but was clearly angling to get off court as quickly as possible.
"It's ridiculously late," Murray said.
"You didn't need to do that but it really helps me and Thanasi when we have all of you creating an amazing atmosphere for us. I appreciate that.
"Everyone, including me, I think we should all get off to bed now. Let's hope I can keep going here but I need to keep recovering now."
Eventually, he was allowed to leave but will be back on court on Saturday, meaning he will have technically played three days in a row and spent 10 hours and 34 minutes on court in his first two matches.
At one point later in the match, he was not allowed to leave the court for a toilet break because he had been earlier in the match.
"It's so disrespectful that the tournament has us out here until 3 or f***ing 4 o'clock in the morning and we're not allowed to go and take a piss," he told umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore.
"It's a joke. It is a joke and you know it as well. It's disrespectful to you, it's disrespectful to the ball children, it's disrespectful to the players [that] we're not allowed to go to the toilet. Ridiculous."
In the post-match press conference, Murray questioned if the uber-late finishes benefited anyone.
"Rather than it being like 'epic Murray-Kokkinakis match', it ends in a bit of a farce," he said.
"If my child was a ball kid for a tournament and they're coming home at 5am in the morning, as a parent, I'm snapping at that.
"It's not beneficial for them. It's not beneficial for the umpires, the officials. I don't think it's amazing for the fans. It's not good for the players.
"We talk about it all the time. It's been spoken about for years. When you start the night matches late and have conditions like that, these things are going to happen."
Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said there was "no need to alter the schedule" at the moment.
"We've had years where we finish every night at 12 or before. But you've also got to protect the matches. If you just put one match at night and there's an injury, you don't have anything for the fans," he told Channel Nine's Today program.
"We'll always look at it during the debrief, like we do every year. We've had long matches before but, at this point, we've got to fit those matches in in the 14 days, so you don't have many options."
McEnroe labels Murray 'a legendary player'
Murray — who next faces 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in his first trip to the round of 32 at the Australian Open since 2017 — said it was "unbelievable" that he managed to bounce back from 2-0 down with Kokkinakis serving for the match.
"Thanasi was playing, I mean, serving unbelievable, hitting his forehand huge and I don't know how I managed to get through it," Murray said.
"I did start playing better as the match went on. And yeah, I have a big heart.
"I think now I'm outright the most matches coming back from two sets to love down. So I have done it before, I have experience of it, and I just rely on that experience and that drive and that fight, and my love of the game, and competing, and my respect for this event, and the competition.
"That's why I kept going."
Murray temporarily retired in 2018 due to lingering hip issues that forced him to have a resurfacing procedure, which is basically one step shy of a full hip replacement.
Kokkinakis — who has also battled through his own persistent injury woes to get back to this level — also posted his reaction on Twitter, simply saying: "This f***ing sport man."
And, while he was clearly talking about tennis as a whole, he could very well have been marvelling at the ridiculous "sport man" that is Sir Andy Murray.
By reaching the third round here, Murray has now equalled his best-ever result at a major since returning, earning praise from around the sporting world.
"The never-give-up, never-say-die mottos that you hear, every cliché you could throw at any athlete, you would send his way right now because this is about the love of the sport more than anything else," seven-time grand slam winner John McEnroe told Eurosport.
"His desire to compete and go out and just give what he's got. This is a guy that's one of the great players of our era that, sort of, is not talked about because of what the other top three guys have accomplished.
"But he's a legendary player and I think these type of matches cement his reputation."
McEnroe urged people to "enjoy the moment" because two brutal five-setters may be too much to overcome for the bionic man.