Wimbledon: Andy Murray falls to Stefanos Tsitsipas after 5 sets and 2 days

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

WIMBLEDON, England — Andy Murray didn’t know.

As he was asked to dissect his loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of Wimbledon – a rollicking five-setter that lasted more than 4½ hours spread over two days before a packed Centre Court filled with thousands of his closest and loudest friends – Murray started answers to question after question at his news conference Friday with some variation of that theme.

It was, likely, a verbal crutch, something used to gather his thoughts before offering a more complete response. It also embodied the uncertainty that seems to surround a former No. 1 player who owns three Grand Slam titles, two at the All England Club, but also is now 36 and with an artificial hip after two operations.

Was it harder to accept this 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat, given both how close it was and all he’s been through? “I don’t know, to be honest,” Murray’s reply began.

Did the match change because it was suspended Thursday at 10:40 p.m., right after he’d taken a two-sets-to-one lead, because rules prevent play after 11 p.m.? “I don’t know, to be honest.”

How frustrating was it that the contest was put on hold for nearly 18 hours? “Well, you never know what would have happened.”

Does the player ahead in that circumstance want to keep playing, while the player trailing prefers to stop? “I don’t know.”

Will he return to Wimbledon next year? “I don’t know.”

“I’m obviously very disappointed just now. You never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play here,” Murray said. “The defeats, maybe feel a bit tougher. But, to be honest, every year that Wimbledon’s not gone how I would like, it’s been hard.”

This was his second consecutive exit in the second round at the site of three of his greatest triumphs: the 2012 Olympic gold medal and the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon championships. His trophy a decade ago was the first for a British man at the All England Club in singles in 77 years.

Murray has not been past the third round at any major since getting to the 2017 quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

“I mean, ultimately this was an opportunity for me. I had a good chance of having a proper run for the first time in a long time at a Slam. I didn’t take it,” he said, and bit on the collar of his white T-shirt.

On the point before action was halted Thursday, Murray slipped and fell at the baseline. He called it “jarring” and said he felt some “initial pain and discomfort,” but would not characterize it as an injury and said he was OK when action resumed Friday.

“It’s never easy against Andy. I know everyone loves him here,” said the fifth-seeded Tsitsipas, a two-time runner-up at majors, including at the Australian Open in January.

All in all, Friday was rough for the local fans: The other two British men left in the bracket, No. 12 Cam Norrie and wild-card entry Liam Broady, were sent home, too. Norrie was defeated by American Chris Eubanks, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3), and Broady lost to No. 26 Denis Shapovalov of Canada, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.

At night, Novak Djokovic moved into the fourth round as he pursues some more significant numbers – a fifth consecutive title at Wimbledon; an eighth overall there; a 24th from all majors – by making quick work of Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (5). Djokovic trailed 5-3 in the closing tiebreaker before reeling off the last four points.

No. 7 Andrey Rublev and No. 8 Jannik Sinner also both got to the fourth round, while No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev reached the third. The No. 1 woman, Iga Swiatek, made her way into the fourth round – she’s never been further at the All England Club – as did No. 4 Jessica Pegula; No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, two-time champion Petra Kvitova and 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur moved into the third round. But No. 5 Caroline Garcia was a 7-6 (0), 4-6, 7-5 loser against No. 32 Marie Bouzkova.

Because it was so late by the time Murray and Tsitsipas took the court Thursday, the retractable roof was closed. It was open Friday afternoon: After so much rain earlier in the week, the pale blue sky was unencumbered by clouds, and some folks sitting on the side of the stadium blanketed by sun-flapped fans with the temperature at 85 degrees.

Tsitsipas drew hearty boos when he disputed a ruling in Friday’s second game, but he never seemed rattled during points. He took the last four points of the fourth-set tiebreaker Friday – just as he did in the first-set tiebreaker Thursday – then broke early in the fifth to lead 2-1 and was on his way.

“He’s someone who will make it a marathon, regardless of whether you want it or not,” said Tsitsipas, whose girlfriend and mixed doubles partner, Paula Badosa, watched from his guest box after she stopped playing during her match earlier Friday because of a bad back. “I had to work extra hard today to get that victory. My legs are sore right now. He made me run left and right, up and down.”

Each player only broke the other once. Murray’s ability to return is one of his many elite skills, and he was upset at himself for not managing to do more damage to the serves coming off the racket of Tsitsipas.

One pivotal moment came with Tsitsipas serving at 4-all, 15-30 in the fourth set. Murray hit a short, sharply angled backhand return that was called out by a line judge and chair umpire Aurélie Tourte; a TV graphic replay showed the ball actually clipped the chalk and should have counted.

“It was right underneath the umpire’s nose,” Murray said.

He’ll probably think about that one some more. He’s also likely to think about what else went wrong against Tsitsipas.

Murray spoke before the tournament about having an idea how much longer he will stay on tour.

“I don’t plan to stop right now. But this one will take a little while to get over,” he said Friday. “Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”

In other words, he doesn’t know precisely what the future holds.

SWIATEK SAYS PRESSURE IS OFF

An avid reader, Iga Swiatek knows how to contextualize her Wimbledon experiences.

Her third-round exit last year after winning the French Open was a disappointment. The top-ranked Swiatek cleared that hurdle Friday, dispatching 30th-seeded Petra Martic, 6-2, 7-5, to reach the fourth round.

“It’s just a totally different chapter,” the 22-year-old Pole said.

The four-time Grand Slam champion can reach her first Wimbledon quarterfinal when she faces 14th-seeded Belinda Bencic on Sunday.

Swiatek has said she felt a lot of pressure last year from high expectations and the 35-match winning streak she carried into Wimbledon.

“I do feel more relaxed. I think also because I won Roland Garros and I feel like after that the pressure is a little bit off because I reached my goal kind of for the season,” she said. “I don’t have to think about anything else other than playing. … I feel like I have more kind of, I don’t know, free space in my head to develop my game and to work on my skills on grass.”

Unlike the men’s side, where seven-time winner Novak Djokovic is a heavy favorite, the women’s field is tougher to handicap.

The top three seeds – Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Elena Rybakina – are showing signs of becoming a “Big Three.”

Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion who was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2021, advanced to the third round with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Varvara Gracheva.

Madison Keys, who beat Viktorija Golubic, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the third round, said the “Big Three” title is deserved.

“They are obviously at the top of the game right now, so I think it’s a great term to describe the three of them,” said the American, who is seeded 25th.

After the top three seeds, there’s No. 4 Jessica Pegula, who advanced to the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

EUBANKS FINDS FOOTING ON GRASS

A month ago, Chris Eubanks began the grass-court portion of the season that leads into Wimbledon at a lower-level ATP Challenger Tour event in Surbiton, England. The 27-year-old American walked away with about $2,500 in prize money after losing in straight sets in the second round to a player ranked outside the Top 100, which only served to reinforce a distaste for the green surface.

Searching for answers, Eubanks reached out to International Tennis Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters, a four-time Grand Slam champion he befriended while playing World TeamTennis.

“I was just kind of frustrated,” he recounted. “I sent her a text, and I was like, ‘Grass is the stupidest surface to play tennis on. Why are we playing tennis – a sport in which we need the ball to bounce – on a very inconsistent surface?’ And you can’t move on it.”

Well, just look at Eubanks now: He eliminated 12th-seeded Cam Norrie of Britain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in 2½ hours on Friday with 21 aces and 63 total winners to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

“Biggest win of my career, no question. By far,” said Eubanks, who has dabbled in work as a TV commentator. “Considering the moment. Considering the stage. Who I was playing. Where I played him.”

After Clijsters offered some advice about drills to help with footwork on grass – as it happens, Eubanks said, the same sort of things his coach suggested – so much seemed to change.

Eubanks went out and won a grass tournament in Mallorca, Spain, last week to collect his first ATP Tour title and rise to a career-best ranking of No. 43.

He carried that momentum to the All England Club, where the two-time NCAA All-American at Georgia Tech will face Christopher O’Connell of Australia on Saturday for a berth in the fourth round.

Against Norrie, Eubanks started about as well as possible, using his 6-foot-7 frame to propel tough-to-reach serves.

The match’s first game was a hold at love by Eubanks, with the help of two aces.

The third was a hold at love by Eubanks, with the help of four aces that arrived in a crescendo – at 115 mph, 116 mph, 119 mph and, on a second serve, 126 mph.

“At that point,” Eubanks said afterward, “I was like, ‘OK, I’m feeling good today.’”

Norrie could tell.

“He played unbelievable,” Norrie said. “What he was going for was so aggressive and so risky, and it paid off for him. Credit to him.”

And maybe – just maybe – Eubanks feels a little bit better about playing on the green stuff than he did in early June.

“That’s a very different person now, I can tell you that much,” Eubanks said. “I’m loving the grass right now.”

STAR-STRUCK

Ons Jabeur, the No. 6 seed and runner-up to Rybakina a year ago, needed only 45 minutes to get past Bai Zhuoxuan of China, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the third round.

The Tunisian player was pleased with the win, of course, but also happy to talk about meeting David Beckham two days earlier.

“Oh, amazing. Such an amazing person,” said Jabeur, a big soccer fan and a former player herself. “I was really looking forward to meet him. We talked about football, about his daughter, tennis in general. Him maybe watching a couple matches in U.S. So let’s see.”

AP sports writer Ken Maguire contributed to this story.