Andy Murray was back out practising in the Margaret Court Arena today – under 15 hours after his late-night epic win at the Australian Open. The Scot, 35, completed his five-set comeback win over Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis at 4.05am.
He went to bed at 5.30am after his five-hour, 45-minute victory but was back at Melbourne Park at 9.30am for treatment on his feet. And after returning back to his hotel to sleep, the three-time Grand Slam returned to the same court for a gentle 20-minute hit at 6.30pm.
Accompanied by coach Ivan Lendl, he looked stiff and sore as he practised with local pro Cihan Akay. The world No 66, will be back in action on Saturday night in the first match in the evening session on the same Margaret Court Arena at 7pm local time (8am UK time) against No 24 seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
No 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who played the second match of Friday in the Rod Laver Arena, said: “It’s no fun for Andy. I saw him today before my match. I was thinking to myself, ‘What is he doing here? He should be in bed!’
MUST READ: Andy Murray startled Cam Norrie as Brit tipped for Aus Open title run
Watch every match from the Australian Open live and exclusive on discovery+ and Eurosport
“That’s the nature of it. You have to deal with it. What can you do? It started as a reasonable time, I would say. There’s a rule in place. They didn’t break any rule. The match started at 10:00. Kokkinakis made it long. Murray made it long, too.
“I think tennis likes these kind of matches ’cause there’s a story behind, there’s a great story behind this match, and it’s going to be remembered. I do remember very vividly, very well the match that Baghdatis played with Hewitt. It’s somewhere back inside my mind somewhere. I do remember this moment.
“It is definitely a very magical moment, for sure not for the one who loses because it’s painful. On one side it’s painful, on the other way it’s pretty good because you don’t have to deal with jet lag coming back to Europe, which helps.”
DON’T MISS…
Novak Djokovic salutes great champion Andy Murray before cheeky taunt
Four chaotic Australian Open moments so far including ‘penis drawing’
Andy Murray swears at umpire in furious rant over Aus Open rules
Murray’s mum Judy meanwhile said: “What he has gone through to get back to this level is quite remarkable. What he is doing out there, to survive five sets in five hours against Berrettini who is 13 or 14 in the world I think the other night and then to come back from two sets and 5-2 down against Kokkinakis last night in the early hours of the morning…
“I didn’t get to bed till about 5.30 – is really remarkable what he is doing. He is just an incredible fighter and his resilience is second to none.”
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
