Andy Murray praises ‘brilliant’ sportsmanship display of opponent

Andy Murray was thoroughly impressed by the sportsmanship of Francisco Cerundolo at a potentially crucial moment in the opening set of their first round US Open encounter. 

The 24-year-old Argentinian won the point to go 15-15 while serving to stay in the set at 4-5, but Murray was convinced Cerundolo had not made it to a shot before it bounced twice halfway through the rally.

Under the rules of the sport, the umpire cannot make a ‘not up’ call after a point is over, even if big screen replays present clear contrary evidence, as was the case here.

After replays clearly showed that the ball bounced twice, Cerundolo intervened to concede the point to Murray before going on to hold his serve from 0-30 down.

After Murray claimed victory 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, the 2012 US Open champion was full of praise for his opponent, having a word with him at the net when they met for the shake of hands before defending him in his post-match press conference.

“What he did was brilliant, and I don’t think that loads of players on the tour would have done that,” Murray said when asked on it. “Fair play to him. And I said that to him at the net. You know, he didn’t have to do that either.

“And also, I think in those situations it’s sometimes difficult for the player who picks the ball up to know exactly [if they got there], but the player who is receiving the ball, they know almost immediately.

“The ball when it comes with topspin in those situations, it’s almost always because there has been a double bounce or the ball has been hit into the court, creating the topspin. You know immediately.

“So when the ball came over, I knew that it had bounced twice, which I had obviously said to the umpire. I think there is an argument for it to be used in those situations, for sure.”

Murray’s straight sets win was his first at a Slam for more than five years, since he was world number one at Wimbledon 2017. He next faces American wildcard Emilio Nava for a place in the third round in New York for the first time since 2016.

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