Andy Murray threatened a sit-down protest at the French Open today before recovering from losing the first set to win his bizarre second round match.
The world No 1 shouted at himself and his team throughout his 6-7 6-2 6-2 7-6 win over hard-hitting Martin Klizan..
And the Scot even told umpire Emmanuel Joseph he was not going to continue during the first-set tie break because of the movement of a courtside camera.
Murray said: “What I have I got to do to get this moved? If this keeps happening, I am going to sit down. I have complained three or four times. I can't concentrate.” ITV commentators later ad to apologise for his foul on-court language – and the cries of a baby interrupted play in the fourth set.
The British No 1, who will face Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round in a repeat of the epic Olympic final, also looked to be concerned about his right elbow which kept him out injured earlier in the season.
The top seed had his serve broken in the third game ad looked sluggish and slow as the world No 50 unleashed a series of winners and cunning drop shots to lead 5-3. At one point Murray said sarcastically to himself: “Moving like a dream.” And then he told his team: “I am so worried about my movement, I can't hit the ball. Good work.”
But the Scot broke the Slovak left-hander for the first time when he served for the first set at 5-4 – and Klizan threw his racquet into the court in frustration when Murray won his third third consecutive game to lead 6-5.
But the British No 1 lost his cool and the tiebreak. At 2-3, he slapped a horrible backhand into the bottom of the net and served a double fault at 3-5 to gift three set points. Klizan took the first by putting away an overhead to take the opening set in 61 minutes.
Murray changed tactics by standing further back to receive the Klizan standing further back and broke him twice and a run of seven consecutive games was only broken at the start of the third set.
When the Scot led two sets to one, the end seemed nigh. But nothing is ever that easy with Murray. He dropped his serve in the opening game of the four set and seemed distracted when the Slovak, who was playing with strapping on his left calf, asked for treatment on his shoulder.
At 0-2, the Olympic champion missed an easy volley to break back and lost the game as Klizan kept the rallies short with repeated drop shots. It was a tactic which worked all match.
At the changeover, Murray argued with umpire Joseph about a call and told his team: “This is the flattest I have seen you guys for a long time.”
In the next game, he looked up to his box just behind the baseline and implored: “I need help” before going 4-1 down.
But Murray broke back at 5-3 when Klizan missed an overhead and this time won the tiebreak in spectacular style by returning a Klizan drive following a drop shot to finally end the crazy match after three hours and 35minutes.
Murray, who immediately ate fruit out of his packed lunch box after the win, said: “I expected it to be very tough. I goes for huge shots. His forehand can hit winners from anywhere in the court. Sometimes you can hit a good shot and he has the power to hit unbelievable winners. I played a solid match and tried to hit the ball deeper. I think it was an entertaining match. “When he was hitting the ball that hard, it was very difficult. I certainly didn't want a fifth set.”
Asked about playing on Court Suzanne-Lenglen – the second court at Roland Garros – Murray added: “They are real tennis fans on this court. They don't like it when you behave badly which is good. I try to behave as good as I can but I can always improve on that.'On facing Del Potro, he said: “Very tough. Juan Martin in my opinion plays better than his ranking.”
Kyle Edmund has joined Murray in the third round after beating Argentine Renzo Olivo 7-5 6-3 6-1 in two hours and two minutes. He will play the winner of the match between Nick Kyrgios and Kevin Anderson now on court.