Andy Murray hits back at cheating accusations after Italian fans boo Brit
Andy Murray was left fuming with the umpire and Italian Open crowd during his first-round defeat to Fabio Fognini.
Andy Murray has fired back at Italian Open spectators for booing and jeering him during his first-round defeat to Fabio Fognini on Wednesday. And the Brit continued his spat with umpire Mohamed Lahyani who called a decisive shot wrongly near the end of the opening set.
Fognini was the underdog against Murray, who entered the match coming off winning his first title since 2019 in Aix-en-Provence.
The former top-10 player has suffered injury and form frustrations as of late but overcame Murray 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in front of his home crowd.
Near the end of the first set on Centre Court, Fognini was serving to go 5-3 up when the line judge called a contentious lob in.
Murray disputed the call as umpire Lahyani left his chair to take a look himself, and he left the Brit furious by agreeing with the decision.
The 35-year-old vented: “You can see the ball mark mate. Mohamed, look. How can you see that ball from there being in? How is it possible?