The 23-year-old’s seven-minute bathroom break at a crucial juncture of his match against Andy Murray caused major controversy earlier in the week. Murray complained about it at length during the match and even at his post-match press conference, claiming that such a break was harmful to opponents.

In his match against Adrian Mannarino, Tsitsipas took a long toilet break once again, after the end of the third set (which he lost). When he returned to the court after seven minutes he was roundly booed by the crowd, but the Greek managed to regain his focus and take the match in four sets.

A couple of other players, including Alexander Zverev, have also complained about Stefanos Tsitsipas’ toilet breaks recently. Tsitsipas, however, doesn’t think he is doing anything wrong. During his press conference after beating Mannarino, the 23-year-old reiterated that the toilet breaks are “important” for him as he needs to change his sweaty clothes from time to time.

Tsitsipas went on to add that he tries to be as quick as possible during the breaks, and that it’s not a big deal if he takes a little more time than usual on occasion.

Stefanos Tsitsipas was also asked about the booing from the crowd, in response to which he claimed the fans didn’t know what it takes to play tennis at the highest level.

Stefanos Tsitsipas also mentioned how different players have different needs, and that some of them use other things to their advantage - like the 25-second rule between serves.

“I just don’t understand when some players go and criticize other players” - Stefanos Tsitsipas on Andy Murray’s comments

Andy Murray, meanwhile, has continued to make sly remarks on Twitter after his 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 loss to Tsitsipas. On Tuesday he compared the duration of Tsitsipas’ breaks to the time it takes Jeff Bezos to go into space, and early on Thursday he posed a cryptic question about whether anything “interesting” had happened the previous night.

The Scot was making a clear reference to Stefanos Tsitsipas’ toilet break in his match against Adrian Mannarino.

In his presser on Monday, Murray had pointed out that during long breaks in the middle of a match the body cools down. According to the Scot, that makes it difficult to immediately start playing at a high level when the action resumes.

While Tsitsipas did not directly address Murray’s point during his presser on Thursday, he did express hope that he can discuss the matter privately with the former World No. 1.

Stefanos Tsitsipas further claimed he never complains about what other players do, and that he feels he should receive the same kind of treatment when he takes a few liberties. According to the Greek, the toilet breaks don’t affect the result of any match, so he doesn’t understand why opponents put “too much emphasis” on them.

Interestingly, Stefanos Tsitsipas also brought up an incident from the 2012 US Open final, when Andy Murray had self-admittedly taken a toilet break to regroup. But as the reporter pointed out to Tsitsipas in response, Murray’s break back then was shorter than three minutes - unlike the Greek’s considerably longer ones.

Here’s how the exchange went:

The video of the exchange can be seen below:

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