Stefanos Tsitsipas isn’t planning to curtail his lengthy breaks as long as the rules don’t change.
After Andy Murray ripped the third seed, saying he lost respect for Tsitsipas after their opening-round US Open match on Monday, he was at it again Wednesday night, taking eight minutes after dropping the third set to Andres Mannarino in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0 second-round victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Greek star heard boos on Wednesday after the break, as he did on Monday. Two off-court breaks, which don’t include a time limit, are allowed by the rules during best-of-five-sets matches.
“I haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t understand,” Tsitsipas said. “The people love the sport, they come to watch tennis. I have nothing against them. I love the fans.
“But some people don’t understand. That’s all. They don’t understand. They haven’t played tennis at a high level to understand how much effort and how difficult it is to do what we are doing. Sometimes we need a short break to do what we have to do.”
Tsitsipas said the break allows him to refresh and start over, after a disappointing result. It worked on Wednesday.
“It is important,” he said. “First of all, you carry less weight on you with all the sweat. You feel rejuvenated, you feel fresh, and you don’t have all the sweat bothering you and coming in your face, on your fingers, everywhere all over your body. It makes you feel better.”
Unlike Murray, Mannarino didn’t fault Tsitsipas.
“He’s not doing anything wrong,” Mannarino said. “He’s allowed to do that. They should think about maybe changing the rules.”