6 tennis matches that finished after 3am: Andy Murray v Thanasi Kokkinakis at 04:05am

Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti notched up a record at the French Open as their match finished in the early hours of Sunday, but it was not the latest a match had finished in men’s tennis.

Defending champion Djokovic and Musetti slugged it out for four hours and 29 minutes as the world No 1 came away with a 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory.

The official ATP Tour website states the match ended at 3:08am local time and that makes it the latest finish ever at the clay-court Grand Slam, but it is well down the last for late finishes.

Six tennis matches that finished after 3am:

03:08 – Novak Djokovic v Lorenzo Musetti

The previous latest finish at the French Open was 01:25am, but Djokovic and Musetti went past the 03:00am mark at the 2024 French Open.

They joined the record books thanks to poor weather in Paris as several matches were rescheduled to Saturday with their match only getting underway at 10:37pm.

But it was no problem for the 37-year-old Djokovic as he won the five-set marathon to book his place in the fourth round.

Djokovic kept it diplomatic after the match as he refused to play the blame game, stating: “I don’t want to get into it. I have my opinions but I think there are great things to talk about in this match today.

“Both Lorenzo and my performances stand out so I don’t want to be talking about the schedule. I think some things could have been handled a different way but there’s also a beauty in winning a match (so late).”

Novak Djokovic was right to hit out at French Open umpire – it should never happen again

03:34am – Andreas Seppi v Bobby Reynolds

Back at the 2007 Australian Open, Reynolds came through qualifying to earn a first-round clash against Andreas Seppi, but he ended up waiting 14 hours on the day for his match to get underway.

The American arrived at 10am at Melbourne Park and his match only started at 23:45 and he was far from happy with the decision.

“Obviously, I would have rather not played,” he said. “It’s such a big event to put guys out there at that time of night. I don’t understand why they cancelled some matches for the night and played others. I just don’t feel it’s right to put someone out at 12 at night. We work so hard to get into this tournament.”

Seppi won the match 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 as the pair only finished 03:34.

At the time it was the latest recorded match finish at a Grand Slam or ATP Tour event.

04:04am – Sam Querrey and Jack Sock v Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli

The Davis Cup also entered the chat for late-night finishes in 2019 when the doubles encounter between the United States and Italy finished after 4am in Madrid.

It remains the latest finish in Davis Cup history and at the time it was the second-latest finish recorded in professional tennis.

The Sam Querrey and Jack Sock v Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli encounter only started at 01:25am in Spain as the American pair won 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

“I don’t where we are, what time it is, what day it is but that was pretty special from these guys,” US captain Mardy Fish joked afterwards.

04:05am Andy Murray v Thanasi Kokkinakis

Former world No 1 Andy Murray and local hero Thanasi Kokkinakis slugged it out for five hours and 45 minutes during the 2023 Australian Open.

The match only got underway after 10am at Margaret Court Arena and the Australian served for victory at 5-3 in the deciding set yet it was Murray who ended up winning 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-5.

Spare a thought for Murray as he wasn’t “allowed to take a p**s” during the closing stages of his match as he argued with the chair umpire.

“Do you know something? I respect the rules. It’s a joke, it is a joke and you know it as well,” he told the official.

“It’s so disrespectful that the tournament has us out here until three, f***ing four in the morning and we’re not allowed to take a p**s.

“It’s disrespectful to you, it’s disrespectful to the ball children, disrespectful to the players and we’re not allowed to go to the toilet. It’s ridiculous.”

04:34am – Lleyton Hewitt v Marcos Baghdatis

Yet, the Murray and Kokkinakis match is not the latest finish at the Australian Open as that record took place in the third round of the 2008 edition.

Former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis only took to the court shortly before midnight and four hours and 45 minutes later the match finished with the Australian winning 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3

“We didn’t really have a choice. We had an opinion, but we didn’t get a choice,” Hewitt said after the match.

It remains the latest-ever finish for a Grand Slam match.

04:55am – Alexander Zverev v Jenson Brooksby

Defending Mexican Open champion Alexander Zverev had an eventful tournament in 2022 as he was involved in the latest-ever finish at an ATP Tour event and also got defaulted.

The Zverev-Brooksby encounter only started at 01:35am local time and they finished just short of 5am.

The German claimed a 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 6-2 victory after he saved two match points in the second-set tie-breaker.

A day later and Zverev suffered a brain fart during his doubles encounter with Marcelo Melo.

Taking on Harri Heliovaara and Lloyd Glasspool, Zverev argued with the chair umpire after a call went against him, saying: “Look where the ball bounced. It’s 8-6 in the tie-break, look where the ball bounced. For f*** sake, it’s your line.

“It’s f****** your line. You f****** idiot.”

But that wasn’t the last of it as at the end of the match he walked over to the umpire and struck his chair several times with his racket.

He was later thrown out of the tournament.