It’s 4:06am in Melbourne and the endless marathon that gave Andy Murray victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis has just ended. The Scotsman worked hard to reach the third round of the Australian Open and his fighting spirit is commendable.
The end time of the game, however, has bothered several experts, who are convinced that the schedule of daily games must be reformed. Among them is former world tennis star John McEnroe, a Eurosport commentator, who sided with «Sir Andy» Murray: «It doesn’t happen often, but for me they should make sure it doesn’t happen,» McEnroe began.
«It will be a game that will be talked about for a long time, but it is also a game that greatly affects Andy’s chances of advancing in the tournament. This type of situation has happened before and has always affected players.»
What other sport, be it the World Cup, American football or the NBA, is played until four in the morning? It is absolutely absurd that these things happen. There should be some kind of cutoff point. After that, what is the final point that players need to stop at? These things have to be fixed.” From the point of view of the show, the adrenaline, the emotion generated by a match like the one between Thanasi Kokkinakis and Andy Murray has no comparison.
The two tennis players were the architects of a literally record-breaking match at the Maragaret Court Arena. The match between «Thanos» and «Sir Andy», in fact, officially entered the podium of all matches that ended after 4 in the morning, taking third place (the other two are Hewitt-Baghdatis at the Open in Australia in 2008 and Zverev-Brooksby in Acapulco last year).
Murray has had to make numerous sacrifices
Andy Murray has signaled his intention to continue playing tennis at the highest level. «Obviously, I think you never know exactly when the end will be. I would like to go out and play tennis like this, competing with the best players in the world in the biggest events and doing myself justice,» Andy. Murray said.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist is a firm believer that he can still do some «damage» when playing his best tennis. «I felt good with the way I was playing. It’s more enjoyable for me when I play like this, when I come to a big event and I really believe I can do some damage,» said the Brit.
