Andy Murray hits out at ‘bizarre’ Stefanos Tsitsipas dig from Lacoste CEO
Andy Murray has labelled Lacoste CEO Guibert Thierry’s social media post as ‘bizarre’, after he suggested that Stefanos Tsitsipas displayed ‘unfair behaviour’ at the ATP Finals.
The ATP Finals ‘Green Group’ came to a conclusion yesterday, with Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic advancing to the semi-finals in Turin, however it wasn’t that straightforward.
Djokovic beat alternate Hubert Hurkacz in three sets, who replaced the injured Tsitsipas for the final match, and needed Sinner to beat Holger Rune to qualify.
Sinner made a strong start, winning the first set 6-2, but the Dane levelled things up before narrowly losing the deciding set to the home favourite.
This confirmed that Lacoste brand ambassador Djokovic would qualify for the ATP Finals semi-finals for a 12th time, but brand CEO, Thierry, decided to make a dig against Tsitsipas after the news was confirmed.
“Hats off to @janniksin for his win tonight,” said Thierry. “Despite the unfair behaviour of Tsitsipas, he showed to everyone why he is a future champ and an authentic guy.”
And 2016 ATP Finals champion Murray took exception to this post on X (formerly Twitter), when responding this morning, “Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand. [Shrugged shoulders emoji] Getting injured is part of sport and isn’t āunfair behaviour’. [Thumbs down emoji]”
Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand?āāļø getting injured is part of sport and isnt āunfair behaviourā ? https://t.co/cUG2WYnLCH
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) November 17, 2023
The round-robin stages of the ATP Finals will be concluded later today with the ‘Red Group’, with Daniil Medvedev already qualified and the final spot going to either Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev,
Then on Saturday, the winner of the ‘Red Group’ will play Djokovic and the runner-up will play Sinner, as the knockout stages begin.
Inside the baseline…
As Murray already said, it was a bizarre social media post for the Lacoste CEO to make, especially after his player had actually qualified for the semi-finals. The implication that Thierry appears to be making is that Tsitsipas was already injured before the ATP Finals, and therefore Sinner and Rune had an easier opponent than Djokovic, who had to beat a fully fit and in-form Hurkacz.
READ MORE – ATP Finals Permutations: Who can still qualify for the semi-finals?
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