Andy Murray's favourite athlete during his teenage years was Barcelona forward Ronaldinho (Image: Getty)
ANDY Murray has slammed Lacoste’s CEO following the latter’s “bizarre” jibe towards fellow pro Stefanos Tsitsipas who was forced to retire from a match following a back injury.
Tsitsipas, 25, retired after just three games of his second match at the ATP Finals on Tuesday, after a niggling back injury left him feeling “terrible” on the court.
The decision was met with criticism, with many members of the audience booing as the player shook opponent Holger Rune’s hand in defeat.
One vocal critic was Guibert Thierry, CEO of sports brand Lacoste, who deemed the decision “unfair” whilst praising Italian Jannik Sinner upon his defeat of Rune.
Thierry took to social media yesterday, to say: “Hats off to Jannik Sinner for his win tonight.
“Despite the unfair behaviour of Tsitsipas, he showed to everyone why he is a future champ and an authentic guy.”
Murray however, who underwent hip surgery in 2018, jumped to Tsitsipas’s defence as he slammed Thierry for the criticism this morning, claiming that it was a “bizarre” thing to say.
The Olympic Gold winner replied to Thierry’s statement, saying: “Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand. Getting injured is part of sport and isn’t ‘unfair behaviour’.”
The tweet received over 1,600 likes and dozens of comments from users who appeared divided over the incident.
One person wrote: “Spot on Andy, disgraceful tweet.”
Another said: “Realising that you are injured during warmup and not withdrawing, in a tournament with one match per session for the fans, and not giving a fellow player a chance to compete, is not a good behaviour for a tennis player.”
A third commented: “Well, CEOs are also ordinary fans like all of us and they’re allowed to have opinions.
“Don’t you think you accusing Tsitsipas (a fellow player) of cheating was way more bizarre?”
Another added: “He says in his bio, not to take him seriously, so maybe he’s trying to deliberately be mischievous.”
A fifth wrote: “Tell Catherine Whitaker and the Tennis Podcast that have spilt all that hate on [Stefanos Tsitsipas].
“Legend Murray, you have put them back in their place.”
Despite his automatic win as a result of Tsitsipas’s retirement, Holger Rune was defeated by Jannik Sinner yesterday, who now joins world number one Novak Djokovic in the semis.
