Google News Mouratoglou on Stefanos Tsitsipas' toilet breaks: He learned from Novak Djokovic
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 19639
Renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou insists Stefanos Tsitsipas takes bathroom breaks because he wants to reset and focus and not because he wants to break his opponent's rhythm. After the fourth set of his US Open first round clash against Andy Murray, Tsitsipas went on a seven-minute long bathroom break.
Murray was irate and he dropped his service in the opening game of the match. After losing the match, Murrray unloaded on Tsitsipas, accusing him of a bad sportsmanship and saying he lost respect for the Greek. “When a player takes a toilet break, he takes a toilet break most of the time not because he needs the toilet but because it is a moment for him to reset and to refocus,” Mouratoglou said.
“Most of the time he’s lost the set. He needs to calm down, be alone and be within himself to find himself a solution and that is the only thing that Stefanos does. “It’s even annoying to think that a player would only do that to disturb the rhythm of his opponent.
When he did that (took a break) against Murray he just won a set. So why would he try to break the rhythm?”
Mouratoglou says Tsitsipas took a leaf out of Novak Djokovic's book
Tsitsipas was up by two sets in the French Open final before world No.
1 Djokovic stormed back to win in five sets. "When he lost his Roland Garros final he was two sets to love up. Djokovic took a toilet break, came back and then it was a different match. He learned from that,” Mouratoglou added.
“He didn’t learn that Djokovic broke his rhythm. He found out that Djokovic took time for himself in the locker room and was able to reset and come back different. “He learned that, tried it and it worked out for him. That’s why he continues to do it”.