Andy Murray hits out at post from Lacoste CEO criticising Stefanos Tsitsipas over injury

Andy Murray has responded to a “bizarre” claim by Lacoste CEO Guibert Thierry that accused Stefanos Tsitsipas of behaving “unfairly” by dropping out of a match injured.

The spat on X, formerly known as Twitter, started after Novak Djokovic secured his place in the last four of the ATP finals.

The Serbian, who is a Lacoste brand ambassador, had to rely on Jannik Sinner beating Holger Rune to reach the semis for the 12th time due to Tsitsipas pulling out.

After the games, Thierry took to the social media site to say: “Hats off to @janniksin for his win tonight, despite the unfair behaviour of Tsitsipas, he showed to everyone why he is a future champ and an authentic guy.”

Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand🤷‍♂️ getting injured is part of sport and isnt ‘unfair behaviour’ 👎 https://t.co/cUG2WYnLCH
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) November 17, 2023

But Murray, who won the tournament in 2016, jumped to the Greek player’s defence.

He said: “Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand.

“Getting injured is part of sport and isn’t ‘unfair behaviour.”

The post was followed with a thumbs down emoji.

Sinner already knew a place in the last four was guaranteed when he took to the court but would’ve avoided a potential clash with Djokovic if he lost the game.

The world number one was left waiting to find out whether he had made it after defeating Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (1) 4-6 6-1 in the afternoon match.

The scoreline guaranteed Sinner a place in the semi-finals, the first Italian to do so at the prestigious tournament, and meant any win for Rune would be enough to put him through ahead of defending champion Djokovic.

However, Sinner again proved just too strong on home soil in Turin, following up his brilliant victory over Djokovic on Tuesday with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 win against the young Dane.