2021 US Open

Why does Murray always moan so much. Very good player and have a lot of respect for him but he is constantly moaning and its a real turn off. I get that Tsistipas was taking the mick a bit with the breaks but surely Murray is experienced to know to expect this type of stuff, he has been on tour for over 15 years!

Lets be honest, most players do this type of gamesmanship with taking breaks between sets, it happens all the time. Do i think its right? no I dont but its within the rules of the game so I dont get why the opponent doesnt just suck it up and get on with it. Use it as an extra incentive to go on and win if you are that annoyed. People often criticise Djokovic for taking breaks but look at the French open semi final this year, Nadal took a break at an important stage in that key match and Djokovic just got on with it.

I just dont get why the likes of Murray get caught out by this stuff, it happens with so many players all of the time. This is not something new. Its up to the powers that be to make the changes, players need to just get on with it.

On a separate note, great to see Bautista Agut absolutely destroy Kyrgios in straight sets. no doubt Nick ready to make his usual excuses, courts fault or the umpires fault

Petra kvitova is through to the second round which is nice to see.

Interested to watch Shapovalov in this major. Has the game to be the best, if he's strong mentally. Very powerful groundstrokes consistently.

This generation is missing a Lleyton Hewitt, not necessarily in talent, but a gung ho attitude to take it to the old guard. Hewitt did that brilliantly. No young player seems to have that will, fight or grit, like Hewitt did breaking through.

Then again maybe just aren't as good as Hewitt was. We forget and underestimate just how good he was at a young age, before niggling injuries, and later big injuries, slowed his game down.

Since on the topic, I'd argue that there's a case to argue Hewitt was the most natural tennis player ever from a technical standpoint. His game was so relatively weak and lacking power, relied heavily on movement and slight of wrist, to compensate. Few players with better intuition or feel for the game

She doesn't look like she'll fulfill the potential some people believed she had, some seemed to think she'd take over from Serena immediately. Even at 17 she's probably already financially secure for life, which does tend to blunt the hunger of young sportspeople and a lot start to take things easier and their talent for granted. She's still young enough to become a serious contender at slam level, but it's not guaranteed that she will.

That Murray toilet break in the 2012 USO final is not really relevant to the Tsitsipas discussion IMHO. It was after 4 gruelling hours of play, and it's not as if Murray has any real history of taking long toilet breaks to upset the rhythm of his opponent. Also, I reckon he kept on chuntering about Tsitsipas on Monday to keep himself fired up.

Anyway ...

Emma Raducanu is into the 3rd round, after beating Zhang Shuai of China 6-2 6-4. If anything, it should have been easier than that. Zhang beat her in San Jose a few weeks ago, but it seems Raducanu is learning quickly. Very soon, she'll be direct into the slam main draws, no qualifying or wild cards needed. In fact, if she beats Sara Sorribes-Tormo in the next round, she would be just about in the top 100 after the USO. That's quite a big if though. The winner of that match would likely play Barty in round 4.

So far, no top 20 seed in the women's singles has lost, although Brady (# 15) withdrew before the tournament started, giving Raducanu an easier first round match against a lucky loser.