Andy Murray blasts Channel 9 over Emma Raducanu snub at Aus Open
Andy Murray took an angry swipe at Channel Nine on Tuesday night after the Australian Open broadcasters initially failed to show Emma Raducanu's first-round match on live TV.
Raducanu was second-up on Margaret Court Arena in Tuesday's night session at Melbourne Park after Alex de Minaur's win over Lorenzo Musetti.
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De Minaur was shown live on Channel Nine's secondary channel 9Gem, however after his win the broadcast switched to Stefanos Tsitsipas' match on Rod Laver Arena instead of staying with Raducanu.
It meant Tsitsipas' clash with Mikael Ymer was being shown on Nine's main channel and 9Gem at the same time, leaving a number of fans fuming.
Among them was Murray, who took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.
"Come on channel 9 let’s get raducanu stephens on one [of] the channels instead of 2x Rod Laver!" he wrote.
Come on channel 9 let’s get raducanu stephens on one the channels instead of 2x Rod Laver!
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) January 18, 2022
Murray's swipe appeared to do the job, with the 9Gem coverage switching back to Raducanu not long after.
Omg thank you!
— Rennae Stubbs OLY (@rennaestubbs) January 18, 2022
Doesn’t need a tweet from one of the all time greats to do that. Why would you show the same match on two channels in the 1st place? 🙄
— MB (@MoizBanduk) January 18, 2022
Not tweeting about his tremendous win but to champion women in the game 👏👏👏 what a guy 🙌🏼. Good luck in the next round Andy 👍🏼
— Lindsey Ramskill (@linziramma) January 18, 2022
Crazy programming. I’ve had to go through the 9Now app
— Nick Kyrgios’s Coach (@ReidCoaching) January 18, 2022
Instead of this rubbish how about channel 9 stop running the same match on two channels… Raducanu is playing Stephens on another court and you aren’t showing it. What a mess lol
— Danny Fitz (@dannyf1tz) January 18, 2022
Murray had earlier won his first match at the Australian Open since 2017, beating Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 in a four-hour epic.
Emma Raducanu wins first match at Australian Open
Raducanu managed to shrug off an indifferent run of form to fight past fellow US Open champion Sloane Stephens in three sets and reach the second round in her debut Australian Open.
The 19-year-old has struggled since her breakthrough at Flushing Meadows last year and her first-round clash with Stephens proved a rollercoaster before the Englishwoman prevailed 6-0 2-6 6-1 for her first win of 2022.
"It was a tough match-up really for a first round, but I was just very happy," Raducanu said.
"I knew there was going to be some very long rallies and her athleticism is really up there, so I was having to work extremely hard for my points, but I'm so happy to have got through.
"I was very pleased. Coming out of the first set, I thought I played some very good tennis with very little unforced errors.
"Then, of course, there was going to be some adversity in the long rallies. She was just edging through with her defence.
"I'm happy to have regrouped and in the third set, I don't think the score really reflected the level out there."
Raducanu's tough end to 2021 was compounded by a bout of Covid-19 in Abu Dhabi in December.
That ruled her out of the Melbourne Summer Set, before she copped a straight sets loss to Elena Rybakina first-up at the Sydney Tennis Classic.
But the 17th seed struck an imperious figure as she took just 17 minutes to rip through the first set, making just two unforced errors.
After a blip in the second set she righted the ship to seal the match in the third.
with AAP
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