Andy Murray Uses Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Complaint Against Carlos Alcaraz to Slam French Open Organisers

The French Open 2024 has come under the scanner for multiple reasons. While the late-night finishes remain a concern, yet another controversy has popped up during the recent Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Carlos Alcaraz game.

As Tsitsipas approached the chair umpire to complain about Alcaraz’s grunt, a technology innovation took over. Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, like many, seems to have his issues with it.

During the quarter-final match against Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas found himself distracted by the Spaniard multiple times. Every time Tsitsipas was about to serve, Alcaraz made a grunting noise.

The Greek player’s complaint was that had it been during Alcaraz’s shots, he wouldn’t mind. However, since the World No.3 was grunting when Tsitsipas was playing a shot, that’s where the problem was.

After the second set tie-break, the reigning Monte Carlo Masters champion was heard saying to the chair umpire –

“I never complain about this but it’s frustrating. When I’m about to hit the shot… and moments before I hit the shot, I still hear the grunt. It’s not during the shot, it’s right before.”

Now, while the complaint was being resolved, a picture of him was captured in a weird angle that went viral. The new ‘Umpire-Head-Camera’ was responsible for this. Introduced during the French Open 2024, this is a head cam on top of the umpires to give them a close-up swivel view.

This technology provides a better view of the vicious spin of the yellow tennis ball atop red clay. It also supposedly gives a better understanding of the extreme speed at which the ball travels, something that wasn’t quite evident in the TV cameras previously. However, the angle at which it captures the image makes it all a bit silly.

This is where Andy Murray chimed in on X and tweeted the following –

“Is there a worse use of technology in sport than the introduction of the umpire head cam at Roland garros?! looks horrendous and from what I’ve seen offers nothing to anyone involved in the match!”

Murray was right about how it appears on the TV screen, as many tennis fans agreed with him. Moreover, even if this technology has its uses, there are pressing issues that the tournament needs to still work on. The line calls are still made manually by line judges, where the margin for error is higher.

Here are some people who agreed with Murray:

As for the match between Alcaraz and Tsitsipas, Alcaraz won it in three sets with the scores 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, and advanced to the semi-final. Yet, the ‘Head Cam’ controversy continued to dominate discussions on social media.  It stole the spotlight from Alcaraz’s win.

However, the complaint and controversy has not affected Carlos Alcaraz at all, as he continues to win hearts at this French Open.

Carlos Alcaraz Remains Unfazed Throughout Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Complaint

Carlos Alcaraz has been a crowd favorite for his calm demeanor and never partaking in any controversy. When Tsitsipas was complaining against him to the chair umpire, he was simply minding his own business. He simply walked across the court, having a single-minded focus on his game.

After his win, he was jubilant and couldn’t wait to face his next opponent Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. Owing to his positive attitude, kind personality, and ability to smile, Alcaraz always wins hearts. This might just work in his favor, as he could be the crowd favorite in the semi-final against Jannik Sinner.