Murray rips Tsitsipas for stall tactics

Veteran Brit Andy Murray spent nearly five hours at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, coming close to staging a giant upset against the No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas before falling in five sets on opening day at the U.S. Open.

Then the 34-year-old former U.S. Open champion spent nearly five hours ripping Tsitsipas for his delay tactics, saying multiple times it was “nonsense.’’

Tsitsipas took an extended medical timeout after the third set when he trailed 2-1 and wound up roaring back to win the last two sets. The final tally was 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Murray looked ticked off as he briefly shook Tsitsipas’ hand, then walked off muttering.

Murray said he was angered at several different breaks Tsitsipas took when things were not going his way. He noted shenanigans in the fourth set, too, when Tsitsipas took time to change his racket when Murray was rolling.

“When you’re playing a brutal match like that, stopping for seven, eight minutes, you do cool down,’’ Murray said. “You can prepare for it mentally, but it does affect you physically when you take a break that long — multiple times during the match. Every single time it was either — before my serve as well.

“It can’t be coincidence that it’s happening at those moments. I don’t believe it was causing him any issue at all. The match went on for another two and a bit hours after [the medical timeout]. He was fine, moving great. Yeah, it’s just disappointing because I feel it influenced the outcome of the match.’’

Tsitsipas shrugged off the charges.

“I don’t think I broke any rules,’’ he said.