Murray makes most of short stay

Andy Murray tumbled to the ground on his artificial hip, losing his balance in sweat-soaked shoes and leaving splotches on Arthur Ashe Stadium’s blue court from his soggy clothing.

Murray muttered to himself, as he often does. He yelled toward his team about needing new footwear. Soon enough Monday, a second-set tiebreaker had slipped away, too, against No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In an entertaining contest featuring plenty of the smart play, hard hustling and clutch serving that carried Murray to the U.S. Open championship nearly a decade — and a pair of hip operations — ago, he did not quite have enough to come out ahead after almost five hours in high heat and humidity.

Rattled by a lengthy delay before the final set,

Murray wound up losing to the much younger Tsitsipas, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, as the year’s last Grand Slam tournament got underway with fans in the stands a year after they were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With exits for Murray and 2014 champion Marin Cilic, who stopped playing because of an injury in the fifth set against Philipp Kohlschreiber, the only man left in the draw after Day One with even one Grand Slam title is No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Earlier Monday, there were victories for 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, who edged Madison Keys, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7), in a rematch of their final four years ago; multiple Grand Slam title winners and former No.1s Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza; 2020 runner-up Victoria Azarenka and 17-year-old American Coco Gauff.