Andy Murray’s emotion and fight to get to Citi quarters is everything we love about tennis

Andy Murray battled through his third three-set victory at Citi Open, at 3:00 in the morning (that’s a lot of threes!), over Marius Copil, and then broke down with exhaustion and emotion afterwards.

Andy Murray is back.

The match against Romania’s Marius Copil wasn’t easy. Murray faced two tie-breaks, and won one of them in the decisive third set, walking over to his chair and burying his head into his towel, letting all the emotion out.

“Just the emotions coming at the end of an extremely long day and a long match,” Murray said in his press conference, describing the moment.

The draining matched ended at 3:01 a.m., with less than 100 spectators left in the seats, sticking it out in the late hours at Citi Open. Both men looked frayed playing into the early morning hours, hunching over at times between points, and Murray yelling at himself at other times.

In fact, Murray yelled quite a bit: at himself, at the ball, etc. The agitation increased after 2:30 in the morning, which is completely understandable. Murray was probably trying to keep himself awake and focused on the match as it wore on.

It was an incredible victory for the ‘Great Scot,’ and even if he decides to withdraw for the rest of the tournament — which he might do — his three matches at the ATP 500 event are an example of what we love about the passionate Murray — the fight he’s known for is back, and with it, his ability to win matches again. The British player said he was in better shape coming into hard court season than grass, and his performance at the D.C. tennis event is all the proof we need to believe he’s in competitive form again.

“My body doesn’t feel great right now. Finishing matches at three in the morning isn’t good for anyone involved in the event – players, TV, fans, anyone,” said a frustrated Murray afterwards.

“When you’re expected to come back and perform the next day, I think that’s unreasonable.”

His win over Copil puts the 31 year-old back into a quarterfinal for the first time since Wimbledon last year. But playing the quarter will mean playing three matches without any day break — due to weather conditions that have wreaked havoc at the tourney this year. Does he have it in him to battle yet again?

Andy Murray is pursuing his first ATP title since March 2017, when he won in Dubai. He’s ranked No. 832, but is sure to move up after his success in D.C.

But regardless of if he continues his push at Citi, his first hard court event has been a huge morale boost for Andy Murray and will serve him sell as he prepares for the U.S. Open.