‘Officials were not doing job in Murray match’
Baghdatis says Verdasco was let down by US Open Nadal fights back to beat powerhouse Khachanov
At the end of a week of constant controversy at the US Open, the Cypriot player Marcos Baghdatis blamed poor officiating for creating unnecessary tensions in Andy Murray’s second-round match.
This was the latest postscript to an ongoing saga. Murray’s four-set defeat at the hands of Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday had reached a new level of intensity after Murray accused Verdasco of speaking to his coaching team during the 10-minute heat-break.
Verdasco’s defence was that he had actually been chatting to Baghdatis and his coach, and that the conversation only happened because they were sitting in adjacent ice-baths. So it was interesting to hear Baghdatis’s version of events.
“I was in the ice bath,” he explained. “I think both of them are right in a way. Verdasco was not controlled by anybody so his coach came. They didn’t talk about the match, I didn’t hear that, just gave him some shoes and helped him change.
“But Andy is right. The officials were not doing their jobs. If you put a rule you have to follow it. Today we heard that within this 10 minutes you are allowed to strap, restrap your ankles and stuff, so it’s all over the place and I think it’s either dangerous to play or it’s not.”
Asked about the chaperone who is supposed to walk with the players to the locker room and supervise the break, Baghdatis replied: “He was not even there. Verdasco was shouting, screaming ‘Man how long do I have?’ and I had to go and ask the guy how long he has. So it was a bit of a mess.
“It’s not Verdasco’s fault if his coach could be allowed there. It is the officials’ fault. And Andy’s right. Verdasco didn’t do anything bad I think. I think the US Open should do their job right. If everybody did his job right, then there would be no problem. That’s my thinking.”
The heat rule was introduced by the United States Tennis Association at the start of this tournament, as a discretional response to the ferocious conditions that prevailed until a cool change arrived yesterday. It already applied in the women’s game, but the men are unfamiliar with it.
Its application has been haphazard, however. Several players have expressed their anger at receiving warnings for unwittingly over-running the stipulated 10 minutes.
Forecasters are predicting another heatwave next week. But yesterday was grey and mild, with a threat of drizzle that forced the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium to close during the day’s opening match.
That match featured a pair of grand-slam champions in Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka, and although Stephens kept her title defence alive with a 6-3, 6-4 victory, this was a high-quality contest that suggests Azarenka is moving closer to peak form.
Stephens had been a break down at 4-3 in the second set when the roof closed. The delay allowed her to change her dress and “refocus”, in her own words. She then reeled off the last three games to earn a fourth-round meeting with Elise Mertens, celebrating her win with a series of fist pumps. This was uncharacteristic, as Stephens is normally so languid you do not know whether she has won or lost.
Then it was the turn of Rafael Nadal, who benefited from a similar time-out at a stage when he was being rocked by the sheer strength of 6ft 6in Russian powerhouse Karen Khachanov.
Nadal dropped the first set and then twice fought back from a break down in the second, but after the closure of the roof – which took place at 5-5 in the second set – Nadal gathered himself and closed out a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 win.
He was, however, forced to have strapping applied to his right knee.