Australian Open: Andy Murray and the incredible point that made his rival break his racket in anger

At the age of 35, Lionel Messi became a legend at the World Cup in Qatar. With far fewer demands (and pressures), another category 87 pleases Andy Murray come to Australian Open to have fun but compete in the first Grand Slam of the year, where he made a sensational debut by beating Italian Matteo Berrettini, in an epic first round match that lasted nearly five hours.

The second step on ocean land for the winner of three Majors (2 Wimbledon and 1 US Open) and Australian finalist on five occasions was the local Thanasi Kokkinakis, 159 in the ranking but with the youth, a devastating serve and the grit needed to fire him . of the contest. And the match is electrifying: the Australian goes up 6-4, 7-6 and 6-7, while the fourth set is being played.

But apart from the duel between the two tennis players, which at times became very spicy, Andy left a pearl “a la Messi” which must be remembered in the summaries with the best of this 2023 edition of the Australian Grand Slam. A point that made the public stop encouraging their compatriot to surrender to the enormous game of the Scotsman. And it divided the public at the time of preferences.

The third game of the third set was played, with Murray running behind the Australian and before a critical juncture in the development of the game. He was 0-2 in sets and 0-2 in games, with an advantage to snatch the break from the Australian (who had squandered the chance to go 0-3). Then the incredible happened.

murray responded as the service could Kokkinakishe stopped at the back of the field and began returning everything the Adelaide native threw at him, running from one side of the field to the other, resorting to save cuts and lobs to save crashes and sliding like he was in brick dust parisians.

It was a real rally, more like a ping pong match than tennis because of the pace and speed that the ball took, accompanied by exclamations coming from the stands.

After repeatedly failing to settle the point, Kokkinakis ended up lacking intensity, lost concentration and left the ball in the net, shortly before he blasted his racket against the floor of the fight. On the other hand, Murray celebrated with all his small victory, knowing that he had won much more than a point or a game, that he got back into the game.

He is also the winner of two Olympic gold medals and a member for several seasons of the so-called The big four next to Nadal, Federer and Djokovic he wasn’t wrong. The progress of the match quickly smoothed out and Kokkinakis began to suffer the match, between nervous and annoyed by the wasted opportunity, and lengthening the definition up to a dramatic tie break which ended up in the hands of the Scotsman.

The fourth set is played in a tense atmosphere after more than three and a half hours of play, and without a clear dominator of the match.

New in development