"Right underneath the nose, they shouldn't miss that" - Andy Murray laments crucial mistake that cost him Wimbledon win against Stefanos Tsitsipas
Andy Murray's second-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships ended on Thursday with the Brit leading by two sets to one. Expectedly, he was the favorite to secure the win when play resumed on Friday at SW19.
In the fourth set, the duo matched each other shot for shot as the first eight games went with serve. At 4-4 15-30 on Tsitsipas' serve, Murray hit a sharp backhand cross-court return that was called out by the linesperson, a call that was confirmed by the chair umpire, too.
As it turned out, the ball was in, which would have given the former World No. 1 two break points for the opportunity to serve out the match. Without the right call, Murray went on to lose the fourth set in a tiebreaker, following which he finished second-best in the fifth set to exit the tournament in painful fashion.
At his press conference after the 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 loss, the three-time Grand Slam champion was made aware of the mistake that cost him the win. Understandably, Murray was not happy, lamenting that the umpire should not be making such blatant errors.
If they are not sure about a call, the 36-year-old wants umpires to let the player know so that they could challenge the call themselves. In his case, the veteran did not challenge either, taking the umpire at her word instead.
While the Brit admitted that it could have been a matter of just millimeters, he could not believe that the umpire made a poor call at such a crucial juncture in the match, especially when it landed right in front of her eyes.
"Well, I mean, it was right underneath the umpire's nose. They shouldn't be missing. They shouldn't be missing that, to be honest. If they're unsure, they should let the player know, I think," Andy Murray said.
"I mean, it could only have been a couple of (milli)meters. It was such a sharp, sharp angle. It was very short. I assumed the umpire would have made the right call. The linesperson I think called it out.
"The umpire called it out. So, yeah, I mean, you can obviously argue it's a mistake on my part. Ultimately, the umpire made a poor call that's right in front of her," he added.
Andy Murray comes out in favor of electronic line calling after Wimbledon error
When asked if he was in favor of electronic line calling, Andy Murray, taking into account recent events, admitted that he would rather calls be made automatically.
While he prefers having line judges on the court, he does not think the risk of them making mistakes in important moments is worth it.
"Right now I obviously would rather it was done automatically. It's a hard one because I probably prefer having the lines judges on the court. I think, I don't know, it feels nicer to me. The challenges, I think the crowd quite like it. I think for TV, they probably quite like it," Andy Murray said.
"But, yeah, when mistakes are getting made in important moments, then obviously as a player you don't want that," he added.