Andy Murray lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the US Open first round in a five-setter encounter. Both players battled it out in Monday’s high heat and humidity. The 34-year-old lost to a younger opponent 2-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that lasted around five hours.

However, Murray, who is playing with an artificial hip, did not appreciate Tsitsipas’ long medical timeout after the third set and made a lengthy visit to the locker room after the fourth.

Murray, at one point, tumbled to the ground, losing his balance in sweat-soaked shoes and leaving splotches on the blue court from his soggy clothing.

Murray complained about what he considered unfair gamesmanship by the French Open runner-up and announced: “I lost respect for him.”

“It’s nonsense. And he knows it, as well,” said Murray, who is nearly a decade — and a pair of hip operations — removed from a US Open championship.

Told of Murray’s displeasure, the just-turned-23 Tsitsipas said: “If there’s something that he has to tell me, we should speak, the two of us, to kind of understand what went wrong. I don’t think I broke any rules.”

With Andy Murray and 2014 champion, Marin Cilic exiting the only man left in the draw with even one Grand Slam title is world no 1 Novak Djokovic.

Cilic retired from the tournament because of an injury in the fifth set.

Djokovic will debut start his campaign Tuesday night as he tries to break a tie for the men’s mark of 20 majors with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He will also try and become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Unlike last year’s US Open, this year’s matches saw a combined audience for the day and night session at 53,783.

“When we didn’t have a crowd,” reigning champion Naomi Osaka said after beating Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-1 at night, “I know it felt quite lonely for me.”