Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray thinks tennis needs to address the increasing number of late finishes in tennis. On Wednesday, Murray and Joe Salisbury finished their Davis Cup Finals doubles match at around 1am.
After a two-hour and 49-minute battle, Murray was disappointed that some fans were forced to leave the arena early. “It would be better if they were earlier I think for everyone involved. I don’t think it’s ideal for you guys.
I don’t think it’s ideal for the fans. That match that we played there, there’s probably half of the people in there at the end of the match that were there at the beginning. It’s a bit of a shame because, well, they missed a great match.
It’s not probably because they didn’t want to stay. If you got children here, you can’t stay with them. You got to get a bus or train home. Can’t do it,” Murray said.
Murray: It’s not ideal
During this year’s US Open, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner finished their match at 2.50am local time.
“Yeah, it’s not ideal. It’s not just here, obviously. We’ve seen it obviously at the US Open even just last week. It’s something that tennis needs to sort of have a bit of a think about. I don’t think it looks that professional,” Murray added.
Unfortunately for Murray, he and Salisbury fell short in a three-set battle to Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock. Ram and Sock recovered from a set down to beat Murray and Salisbury 5-7 6-4 7-5 and give the United States a 2-1 victory over Great Britain.
In the opening rubber of the tie, Tommy Paul defeated Dan Evans to give the United States an early lead. Top-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie delivered in the next match, beating Taylor Fritz to tie the tie to one win apiece.
Unfortunately for Great Britain, they fell just short of beating the United States after Murray and Salisbury lost their doubles match.
