Andy Murray’s trip to China didn’t go as planned, but he did have the opportunity to experiment with the umpire’s electronic chair and microphone during a practice session, which was a silver lining.
Former world No 1 Murray endured a nightmare Asian swing as he lost in the second round of the Zhuhai Championships, the first round of the China Open and also the first round of the Shanghai Masters.
Ahead of his match against Roman Safiullin at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, Murray decided to have a little fun with the umpire’s chair and microphone during practice at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.
And, like a kid in a toy store, the 36-year-old made himself at home in the electronic chair as he moved the chair up to get a view from the top.
He also fiddled with the microphone and gave it a good inspection before giving it the old “one, two, testing” knock.
And then he climbed off the chair and went on with his business as if nothing happened, but see for yourself…
Away from the umpire’s chair, Murray didn’t have a good outing at the Shanghai Masters as he was well beaten by world No 50 Safiullin as the Russian won 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 40 minutes.
Murray is a four-time winner of the ATP Masters 1000 event and Wednesday’s defeat was his earliest-ever loss in Shanghai.
It was a poor effort from the current world No 39 as he produced an erratic service display – with a first-serve percentage of just 51 – and his frustration boiled over as he smashed his racket and also had several expletive-laden outbursts.
READ MORE: Top five ultimate tennis meltdowns after Andy Murray’s epic racket smash
Murray is next expected to take part in the Swiss Indoors with the ATP 500 tournament starting on October 23 before he will bring his regular ATP season to a conclusion at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris the following week.
He is expected to bring the curtain down on the 2023 season at the Davis Cup Finals knockout stage in Malaga, Spain, as he is set to be part of Leon Smith’s Great Britain squad for the quarter-final encounter against the Novak Djokovic-led Serbia.
Murray was part of the team that finished top of Group B during September’s clashes in Manchester as they defeated Australia, Switzerland and France to book their place in the last eight.
