An exhausted Andy Murray still had enough left in the tank to blast officials after an epic five-set match at the Australian Open finished after 4am on Friday, well beyond the usual Grand Slam midnight madness.

As fans trudged home for a few hours sleep after watching Murray rally from two sets and 2-5 down to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-5, the fired-up Scot labelled organisers “disrespectful.”

Murray said he respected the rules but criticised having to play until the early hours of the morning “and you’re not allowed to go and take a piss”.

“It’s a joke, it’s a joke. You know it as well,” he added.

“It’s disrespectful to you, disrespectful to the ball children, disrespectful to the players and we are not allowed to go to the toilet.

“Ridiculous!”

Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia reacts ahead of the last point of his match against Andy Murray of Great Britain at the 2023 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia on 20 January 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Lukas Coch)

The Australian Open routinely has matches run past midnight but former Grand Slam champion John McEnroe called on officials to implement rules so it never happens so late again.

“I am stunned in disbelief that they were still playing at that hour,” McEnroe told Eurosport. “For starters, it was insane that matches at that level are played 4 to 4:30am in the morning.”

Tournament director Craig Tiley, though, said there was no need to tinker with the schedule at this point.

“At this point, we’ve got to fit those matches in the 14 days, so you don’t have many options,” he told Channel Nine.

“It was an epic match and when you schedule a match like that just before 10pm in the evening before, you’re not expecting it to go close to six hours.”

Tiley pointed out that several hours had been lost due to delays caused by extreme heat and rain this week.

“You don’t often get those conditions in such a short period of time so we’ve had three late nights with scheduling trying to catch up with matches,” Tiley added.

Most elite sports do not hold their biggest events into the wee hours of the morning after most fans have gone to bed, although late matches in Australia are daytime viewing in the big European TV markets.

The latest finish for a match at the Australian Open was 4.34am in 2008, when local Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis battled it out in a third-round match that started at 11.47pm.

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

Murray got little sympathy from third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday after the Greek played his third-round match in the afternoon sunshine.

“It started at a reasonable time, I would say,” he said. “There’s a rule in place. They didn’t break any rule. The match started at 10pm. Kokkinakis made it long. Murray made it long, too.

“I think tennis likes these kind of matches because there’s a great story behind this match, and it’s going to be remembered.

“I do remember very vividly that Baghdatis played with Hewitt. It is definitely a very magical moment, if not for the one who loses because it’s painful.”

Tsitsipas and Swiatek in good form

Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek dazzled in bright sunshine to make short work of their third-round opponents on Friday as some normalcy returned to the Australian Open after scheduling woes, wild weather, upsets and late finishes hogged the headlines.

Third seed Tsitsipas, the top surviving seed in the men’s draw, checked his phone after a 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and reflected on the beautiful day after hours of tennis were lost this week to the heat and stop-start rain.

“Fair crack of the whip mate, I mean, it was great,” Tsitsipas said, slipping into the local vernacular.

“I think my placement on the serve was exceptional today, I didn’t have a lot of rallies on my serve, which helped a lot.

“Kind of kept things clean and I enjoyed the weather today, what a lovely day for tennis it is today, isn’t it?”

Tsitsipas has still not dropped a set in the tournament as he chases his maiden Grand Slam, with his chances boosted by the exits of holder Rafa Nadal and second seed Casper Ruud and an injury cloud hanging over favourite Novak Djokovic.

But the 2021 French Open runner-up came close, saving a set point in the second set before doubling his advantage following a tiebreak to pave the way for a comfortable win to delight his supporters at Rod Laver Arena.

Top seed and women’s favourite Swiatek was equally dominant in her 6-0 6-1 victory over Cristina Bucsa as she bids to add to her two French Open wins and US Open crown.

“A couple of years ago when I was in the fourth round I was really exhausted, and right now I feel this is the right place to be,” Swiatek said.

“Hopefully I’m going to continue to [play] solid and hopefully I’m going to play more matches here.”

Up next for Swiatek is Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina who battled past last year’s Melbourne Park runner-up Danielle Collins 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Reuters/DM