Andy Murray sparks worry he won’t be able to resume Tsitsipas Wimbledon match

Andy Murray let out a hideous howl of pain on the penultimate point on Friday night to raise doubts about his ability to close out his epic Wimbledon encounter with Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 36-year-old twisted on the ground as he chased a ball wide and clutched his groin as he sank to the grass. Groin strains have previously hit Murray badly in 2018 and 2021, with tennis fans now desperately hoping he has avoided a similar problem here and that the issue was more just a case of cramp.

He was able to hit one more first serve which Tsitsipas returned long and with the 11pm Wimbledon curfew 20 minutes away, the umpire called a halt to play at 10.39pm. Murray, after an evening of intense treatment, is expected to resume today with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 lead.

Yet another epic under the roof seemed to have turned when Murray produced the perfect answer to yet another lengthy Stefanos Tsitsipas comfort break. A very comfortable break.

Tsitsipas was booed to his seat by the crowd when he returned a full two minutes after Murray after both players disappeared from the court after sharing two tie-breaker sets. The Greek lost the very next game to love on his own serve – the only break of the game – as Murray seemed to be going from strength to strength.

Both men had insisted there was no bad blood remaining after the Greek disappeared for more than eight minutes during their 2021 US Open encounter before finally emerging to win in five sets. Initially, indeed, it was a fast-tempo start with the scoreboard ticking along with no game going even to deuce until Murray tried to serve to stay in the first set at 5-6.

A clumsily-leaked set point was quickly mopped up, but midway through the tie-break the former world No 1 seemed to run out of steam. Whenever Tsitsipas was able to wind up his forehand, the 36-year-old looked vulnerable.

Despite scampering around the court chasing down lost causes like the Murray of old, the No 5 seed won the final four points of the set to take first blood. A lot of the work, he was having to do himself. In the past, under the roof, the Centre Court have done many of the hard yards in appreciation of Murray’s efforts.

A whiplash backhand that fizzed past Tsitsipas as he tentatively crept up to the net earned a brief coo of appreciation. Less helpful, however, was the idiot who called “Out” while Murray was waiting to play an overhead which he angrily dumped into the net. Truth was, the crowd felt nervous, unconvinced that the man with the metal hip could withstand the sheer health and vitality of the Greek god in front of him.

Murray still believes, though, and when he hit a thunderous backhand to bring it to 30-30 as Tsitsipas served at 4-5, he demanded a bit of loyalty. Still there was no wobble from either man, though – this was going to be another tie-break.

The outcome, this time, would be different – and Centre Court was starting to sense it. Murray was finally making it more of a mind game, and Tsitsipas began to crack – a loose forehand return handing the Scot a 7-2 win to level the match.

Queue that toilet break. While Tsitsipas was being treated like a pantomime villain, it seemed to galvanised Murray who broke immediately to love and drew the biggest cheer of the night so far.

He needed an ace to save one of two break points in the third game; he was not going to concede his unexpected advantage so lightly. Eventually, Murray served to wrap up the third but the late drama will mean a nervous wait to see in what state he returns.