Andy Murray snaps back at ‘shut up and get on with it’ criticism as Grand Slam ‘farce’ continues
Complaints over the scheduling of late-night matches at Grand Slams are growing louder and Andy Murray insists matches finishing at 4am are “not good for anyone” and “it doesn’t help the sport”.
Tennis matches, especially at the four majors, appear to end later and later each year and back in January this year Murray was left unimpressed after his second-round clash against Thanasi Kokkinakis ended 4.05am Melbourne time.
The former world No 1 was critical of the scheduling at the time, stating: “I don’t know who it’s beneficial for. We come here after the match and that’s what the discussion is, rather than it being like, ‘epic Murray-Kokkinakis match’ – it ends in a bit of a farce.
“Amazingly people stayed until the end, and I really appreciate people doing that and creating an atmosphere for us. Some people obviously need to work the following day and everything.”
That theme continued at the French Open and Wimbledon with late-night finishes while a lot of matches at ATP and WTA events have also been affected by controversial scheduling.
Naturally, players have expressed their frustration but that often results in flak from social media users who feel they are living privileged lives and should just “get on with it”.
