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Andy Murray had to struggle today coming back from two sets down to win in five sets over Adrian Mannarino in 3-hours, 17-minutes.
“I’m proud of the way I fought,” said Murray after his eighth 0-2 comeback. “It was not an easy match to come through at all. He was making it extremely difficult for me, as well. Thought he played some really, really good tennis. He has such an unorthodox game, I didn’t really feel that comfortable at many points out there in the match. But, yeah, I was happy, very happy with the way I fought through that, you know, finished the match stronger than him.”
The story though of the first week has been the heat, and while Murray overcame it today several players have retired due to the soaring temperatures and for other reasons. All totaled, 14 players have already retired from the US Open and the 12 men are an Open Era record for any Grand Slam.
With matches ending early cheating fans out of competition, Murray says he has a solution to the epidemic.
“It’s a very easy thing to solve,” Murray said. “Obviously people can get injured in a match. In an individual sport, you can’t just substitute someone else in, like, during a match. If someone’s injured before they go out there, they’re just going to play five games or a few games just to get the first-round check, then that’s really bad for anyone that’s paid to come and watch. So the best thing to do, I think if you’ve worked the whole year to get into these events and earned the right to play, if you show up here and withdraw, give the lucky loser a chance. But the player that pulls out just takes the first-round prize money.
“If I was the lucky loser, I’d be delighted to have the chance to play for the second-round prize money. I think the player that’s earned the right to be there in the first place, you give them the first-round prize money and you avoid people walking on the court for a few games. It’s a waste of time for everyone.”
As it stands, retiring first round player still collect the full amount of $39,500. What Murray is saying is give the players that money without even hitting a ball!
Players would just show up, collect the check and leave, and the tournament would have to pay out more money and you would see far more withdrawals – why play Serena Williams, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic when you can just pick the check up and get paid for not doing anything!
After playing five sets, Murray will have a day off before returning to face Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Saturday.
“I expect a tough match,” Murray said of the lefty. “I would imagine he’s pretty close to his career-high ranking just now. He’s played well this year. Good serve. Plays predominantly from the back of the court. But he’s an aggressive player. He likes to try and dictate the points from the back. Like I say, he’s had some good results this year. Won two matches here very comfortably. So, yeah, I expect a tough match and one that I’ll need to, you know, play very well to win.”
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