The heartbreaking moment Andy Murray’s Wimbledon comeback slipped away

Andy Murray slumped into the press conference room at Wimbledon, dumping his bags by his feet and lowering his stiff and weary body into a chair. Before shuffling across the stage, Murray believed he had been edged out by Stefanos Tsitsipas in a battle that could have gone either way. After resuming their contest on Friday afternoon, Tsitsipas didn’t allow Murray any break-point chances, raising his level in the fourth-set tiebreak and then again at the start of the fifth. Murray competed until the end, but the fifth seed ultimately showed his class as he denied the Briton a famous comeback.

The disappointment of exiting Wimbledon gets tougher as Murray gets older. The chances are running out and this will hurt more than most because of how close he came. The 36-year-old had the momentum and stood a set away from the third round on Thursday night, when play was suspended due to the 11pm Wimbledon curfew. He returned in the blazing sunshine on Centre Court exactly 10 years to the day since his first Wimbedon title, looking to recreate the magic from a decade ago.

Centre Court was febrile, expectant, ready to break out into the frenzy of the night before. At 4-4 in the fourth set, Murray was beginning to crackle and fire the crowd into life, holding his serve comfortably and pumping his fist as he sensed the opportunity. A forehand winner set up 15-30 against the Tsitsipas serve and, on the following point, Murray took aim at a short, sharp backhand return. Centre Court roared, but the ball was called out. It had missed the line by inches, or so he assumed. Murray didn’t know it, but the ball actually landed in.

Had it been called correctly, Murray would have been in position to win the exchange and would have had a look at two break points. Instead, on 30-30, Tsitsipas thundered an ace as he held. From there, Murray didn’t see a single break point for the rest of the match.

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Afterwards, Murray froze when he was told the ball was in, the shock of the realisation sharpening his exhausted features. He lowered his head into his hands. “That’s obviously frustrating,” he mumbled when he raised his eyes again. Murray didn’t challenge the call, he didn’t think he needed to. “It was right underneath the umpire’s nose,” he added. “They shouldn’t be missing. I assumed the umpire would have made the right call.”

The match changed direction after that, as it did when play was suspended late on Thursday night. Murray, though, didn’t want to make excuses and wasn’t looking for something to blame. “The same result could have happened,” he suggested, but this painful defeat will take a long time to accept.

As he did on Thursday night, Murray found an excellent level to begin the fourth set as he took on Tsitsipas from the baseline. Given the doubts over his fitness after last night’s slip, when he let out a horrifying scream as he fell and clutched his groin, Murray looked sharp and moved well from the start as he controlled the rallies. Tsitsipas was a total contrast: serving strongly and hitting powerfully on the forehand but racking up an alarming collection of the most basic unforced errors on his one-handed backhand – his strengths just about managing to compensate for that glaringly obvious weakness in his game.

Murray was on top as he hunted the break point that never came, but the pattern turned as the match entered its third tiebreak. With the previous two tiebreaks in the match split on Thursday and after an almost faultless set, Murray made an error with a return on the Tsitsipas second serve that drifted long. He whipped off his hat and screamed in the direction of his box in anguish, but thumped an ace on the next point. It remained finely level.

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Murray was four points away from the match but Tsitsipas found a solid level and was able to better protect his backhand side in the big points. At 3-3, and in another key moment of the set, Tsitsipas stood firm as Murray peppered the crosscourt forehand at Tsitsipas’s backhand, risking the inside-out weapon that dominated the first set the previous night. Tsitsipas resisted, turning the rally into a battle of slice, before switching defence into attack to take control of the point and putting away the smash.

That, really, was all it took. Tsitsipas tucked away a volley onto the line to win the set and in the far corner of Centre Court, the small pocket of the Greek’s team rippled in support.

The start of the fifth brought a steadier, more assured Tsitsipas, capitalising on the deflation. Murray lost his focus, committing a costly double fault on 0-30 to hand the Greek three break points. When Tsitsipas plundered the break – his only one of the entire match, a contest played across four hours and 40 minutes – it further sucked the life out of Murray and the energy from Centre Court.

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Tsitsipas lost the opening point on his serve in three consecutive games as he looked to close out the match, but found a ridiculous level of serving from there, winning 16 of the 17 points in which he made a first serve. It bailed the 24-year-old out of several difficult situations as Murray hunted in exasperation for the break and the contest took on an air of inevitability that the Greek managed to reach behind his forehand weapon on Thursday. By the end, he was too good for the two-time Wimbledon champion.

But perhaps the chance had already slipped away. The suspension and subsequent resumption after a morning and afternoon of intense anticipation gave this match a mythical feel. They always do when Murray is attempting to perform miracles, as he did in the drama of the previous night. As Murray roared through gritted teeth, a nation rediscovered its hero and the dawn that followed saw heaving crowds join the Wimbledon queue. As a day of perfect sunshine broke above Centre Court, it felt like being transported back in time to finals weekend 10 years ago when he defeated Novak Djokovic.

A victory here would have been Murray’s best in terms of ranking since then, and would have been a result to join it within Wimbledon folklore. They had departed Centre Court at 10:40pm on Thursday night. They returned at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon, emerging into the sun as a blustery wind swirled around the stands and spectators cooled themselves with fans – vastly different conditions than the three sets played under the roof the previous evening. When Murray stood at 4-4 15-30, he was doing it all again, on the verge of adding another special chapter to his history here. It was not until much later that he realised just how close he really was.

Elsewhere at Wimbledon on day five

While former British No 1 Murray was losing on Centre Court, current best of the Brits Cameron Norrie was doing likewise on Court 1. Norrie suffered a shock defeat to world No 43 Christopher Eubanks, who took advantage of a huge serve to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 triumph. “The biggest win of my career. By far,” said a delighted Eubanks following the victory as Norrie’s generally mediocre record at grand slams continued.

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Meanwhile, Liam Broady’s thrilling run also came to an end meaning there are no British men left in the singles draw heading into the middle weekend. Broady couldn’t follow up his stunning win over fourth seed Casper Ruud with another as he fell 4-5, 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 to Denis Shapovalov, although missed a golden opportunity to move within one set of victory by squandering a 5-2 lead in the third set.

Plenty of the favourites in the both singles draws advanced with minimal fuss as, on the men’s side, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz beat Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6, 6-3, Daniil Medvedev dispatched Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 and Jannik Sinner came from a set down to triumph over Quentin Halys 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek continued to look increasingly comfortable on grass as she downed Petra Martic 6-2, 7-5, fourth seed Jessica Pegula thumped Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4, 6-0 and Ons Jabeur did similar to Bai Zhuoxuan 6-1, 6-1. Second seed Aryna Sabalenka suffered a huge early scare against France’s Varvara Gracheva but eventually emerged a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 winner.

And we may have a winner for most awkward press conference exchange of the championship. Poor Paula Badosa had insult added to injury as, following her retirement due to a back injury when trailing 6-2 1-0 to Marta Kostyuk, a reporter opened the post-match press conference by congratulating her on her victory, prompting a toe-curling exchange.