Murray: I won’t kick Novak. This isn’t good for anyone

In normal times Andy Murray making a final in Australia, where three years ago he almost retired, might have dominated the Open build-up.

no longer, but while that frustrates the 34-year-old Scot he can still be delighted by making the championship match this morning at the Sydney Classic.

Murray was facing Russia’s Aslan Karatsev, having defused the power of American giant Reilly Opelka to beat him 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals.

Karatsev then prevented it being an all-GB affair, edging out Dan Evans in a match which included the first controversy of the season over lengthy bathroom breaks.

Three years ago in Melbourne it looked like Murray (below) was calling time on his persistent battles against hip problems, and he now plays with a metal cap in the affected area.

This week’s affirmation that he still has a future comes ironically at a time when the man who has inflicted so much pain on him in Australia, novak Djokovic, is now overshadowing him for other reasons.

Murray gave his most expansive reaction to the Djokovic affair so far, although he also said: ‘I’m not going to sit here and start kicking novak while he’s down. I mean, it’s not a good situation for anyone.’

However, there were echoes of Rafael nadal in his wider take. ‘Ultimately people have to make their own choices. But there are consequences sometimes for those decisions as well,’ he said.

‘The lady who gave me my third jab, she works in the hospital in central London, and she told me that every single person that is in the ICU and on ventilators are all people that are unvaccinated.

‘So to me, it makes sense for people to go ahead and have it done. Most young, healthy athletes are probably going to be OK but we have all got to play our part in this one, I think.’

On more prosaic matters, Murray appears to be benefitting from changing to a bigger racket head, which has three extra square inches on it without having changed the weight. ‘It maybe gives a little bit more spin, a little bit easier depth on the ball and it’s just slightly more forgiving because the sweet spot is a little bit larger,’ he said.

Were he to beat Karatsev, it would put him back inside the world’s top 100.

The Russian angered Evans earlier in the course of a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win by taking a bathroom break following the 15-13 tiebreak that took more than seven minutes, end to end, despite new rules designed to restrict them.

After being broken early in the third set, Evans launched into an expletive-laden rant both at his opponent’s bench and umpire Adel nour. He accused the official of failing to impose the new limits which are supposed to curtail toilet breaks to three minutes and was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.

It was the British no 2’s first defeat after a strong start to the season which had seen him win five successive matches. Liam Broady got a different type of code violation as he joined Evans in the main draw of the Australian Open with an excellent win over another Russian in the final qualifying round for Melbourne.

Broady came back from 5-2 down in the second set to beat Roman Safiullin 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 and earn himself a main-draw first-round against nick Kyrgios.

He incurred the wrath of the umpire for changing down to his underwear between sets, arguing that he was doing it instead of wasting the time of a toilet break.

‘I didn’t change my boxers!’ he protested, saying that he had done it before.

Kyrgios, who is friendly with Broady, can be formidable at the Australian Open if in the mood but has hardly played due to a recent diagnosis of Covid. He might not be a bad draw to have and it will certainly be played on one of the biggest courts.

GB’s representation in the women’s event was boosted to three when Middlesex’s Harriet Dart overcame Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 6-3.

Dart has become something of a qualifying specialist and has managed the difficult feat five times in all now and three times at Melbourne Park.

She has a tough draw against an outside bet for the title — Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the former French Open champion.