At one point in the match, Murray barked out, “Why are we playing at 3 AM?”
The match that lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes was the longest in Murray’s career. On Tuesday, he beat Matteo Berrettini and will next go up against Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday.
Murray was open about his disdain for the match that lasted to the wee hours of the morning.
“Rather than it being, like, ‘epic Murray-Kokkinakis match’, it ends in a bit of a farce,” said Murray.
He also said that it was in no one’s favor. “Some people need to work the following day,” he added.
He also went on to thank the people who stayed on to watch the match.
“If my child was a ball kid for a tournament, they’re coming home at five in the morning, as a parent, I’m snapping at that,” said Murray who has kids of his own.
“It’s not beneficial for them. It’s not beneficial for the umpires, the officials. I don’t think it’s amazing for the fans. It’s not good for the players.”
Murray who endured hip surgery a couple of years ago has been on his path to a comeback.
Late as his second-round finish was, it was not the latest in the history of the Australian Open. Back in 2008, Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis ended their third-round match at 4:34 in the morning.
A more recent late finish example was Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s 1:15 am quarterfinals finish at last year’s French Open.
Many players have been calling for Grand Slams to have only one match a night to avoid late finishes.
But Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said, “If you just put one match at night and there’s an injury, you don’t have anything for fans or broadcasters.”