Five hours after engineering one of the most spectacular finishes of his 18-year career, exerting every ounce of energy he had to topple Thanasi Kokkinakis from two sets down in a near-six-hour, five-set marathon that finished at 4.05am, Andy Murray was already back in the corridors of Melbourne Park. At 9.30am, he walked down the tunnel beneath Rod Laver Arena to warm congratulations and high fives from colleagues and admirers, but also to confused stares.
“I saw him today before my match,” said the No 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. “I was thinking to myself: ‘What is he doing here? He should be in bed.’”
