• Australian Open has angered British Andy Murray and Serbian Novak Djokovic.
• Murray left Melbourne Park  on Friday after the longest match of his career.
• Djokovic concurred with Murray that the problem needed to be resolved.

The current Australian Open’s “disrespectful” and “gruelling” schedule has angered British Andy Murray and Serbian Novak Djokovic, who want changes made for the upcoming tournament.

At 4.05am on Friday, Murray left the scene of the longest match of his career, a five-hour 45-minute struggle in which he defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis after trailing by two sets and a break.

Murray played on the court for more over 14 hours, which is longer than other athletes have required to win a Grand Slam trophy. This includes both his similarly drawn-out victory over Matteo Berrettini and his Saturday defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut, which lasted three hours and 29 minutes.

“It’s a joke, it’s a joke. You know it as well. It’s disrespectful to you, disrespectful to the ball children, disrespectful to the players and we are not allowed to go to the toilet. Ridiculous!,” Murray said.

Djokovic, a former world number one, concurred with Murray that the problem needed to be resolved.

“It comes down to what the TV broadcasters want to have. That’s the ultimate decision-maker. I would agree with his [Murray’s] points. For the crowd, it’s entertaining, it’s exciting, to have matches at midnight, 1, 2, 3am. For us, it’s really gruelling,” he said.

“Even if you go through and win, prevail in these kind of matches, you still have to come back. You have your sleeping cycle, rhythm disrupted completely, not enough time really to recover for another five-setter. Something needs to be addressed I guess in terms of the schedule after what we’ve seen this year.”

By establishing an eight-player board, Djokovic’s Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) has increased its exposure at Melbourne Park after mostly going unnoticed since its founding at the US Open in 2020.

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