US Open: Andy Murray aims new jibe at Stefanos Tsitsipas in toilet break row

[Animous]

Stefanos Tsitsipas found himself the butt of the jokes at the US Open after Andy Murray aimed another jibe at the Greek third seed in the row over long bathroom breaks.

After losing to him on Monday, Britain's Murray said he "lost respect" for Tsitsipas and accused his opponent of "cheating" by going off court for eight minutes, although the Greek did not break any rules.

Murray was not in the mood to let the issue slide, though, even after a night sleeping on it.

On Tuesday, he joked it took less time for American billionaire Jeff Bezos to fly into space than Tsitsipas spent in the toilet.

Report

Germany's Alexander Zverev joined in when discussing the favourites for the title, saying: "Stefanos can play well - if he doesn't go to the moon and back for a toilet break, that will also help. I had to, I'm sorry."

While Murray made plenty of people laugh with his dig - with more than 74,000 likes and 14,000 retweets, his third most popular tweet of the year - it was designed to further highlight an issue which he said is "not good for the sport".

"I love that Andy went to sleep last night with emotions running high and has woken up this morning and doubled down on his opinion," former British number one Laura Robson said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"He's not the first player to complain about this issue."

Why is Tsitsipas gaining a reputation?

Tsitsipas, 23, has gained a reputation as someone who takes long breaks during matches, with Murray becoming the latest to question why.

Murray said he had expected the French Open runner-up to go off court and told his team to prepare for long breaks "if things were not going his way".

Fourth seed Zverev claimed the Greek was doing it "every match".

"It's not normal. It happened to me in the French Open, to Novak Djokovic at the final of the French Open," Zverev said.

"I think in Hamburg against Filip Krajinovic he was complaining, against me in Cincinnati it was ridiculous, and now here again. I think players are catching up on that."

After their recent Cincinnati Masters semi-final, Zverev accused Tsitsipas of using breaks to communicate to his father and coach Apostolos mid-match - which is not allowed on the ATP Tour and which the Greek has strongly denied.

Asked again about that incident at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday, Zverev said: "He's gone for 10-plus minutes. His dad is texting on the phone. He comes out, and all of a sudden his tactic completely changed.

"It's not just me but everybody saw it. The whole game plan changes.

"I'm like either it's a very magical place he goes to or there is communication there."

Tsitsipas said he had "never in my career done that" when asked about the accusation of communication.

"I don't know what kind of imagination it takes to go to that point," he said. "That's not something I want to take seriously because it's absolutely ridiculous to be thinking about that."

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