Tennis journalist fires back at accusations of double standards against Djokovic following Murray's late Wimbledon withdrawal

Renown tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg has dismissed claims of showing bias after former World No.1 Andy Murray announced his withdrawal from the ongoing Wimbledon Championships, a day after the event officially began.

Murray was set to compete in what would be his final Wimbledon, having already announced he would be retiring after the Olympic Games in Paris. Although the former World No.1 was scheduled to compete against Tomas Machac in the opening round, the British star pulled out of the singles event just hours before his match.

In an effort to honor the three-time Grand Slam champion, Rothenberg took to Twitter to post a video celebrating one of Murray's moments. He posted a video of the Brit's five-set second-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas from last year.

"Obviously he wanted more, but Andy Murray’s last #Wimbledon singles match being this high-level five-setter against Tsitsipas on Centre Court last year is pretty darn great," read the caption.

However, some tennis fans were not pleased with his commemoration. A user pointed out one of Rothenberg's past posts regarding Novak Djokovic and his withdrawal from the 2022 Indian Wells event. The Serb's name had been in the draw, but he was unable to enter the United States due to not being vaccinated against Covid-19.

"Are you going to s*it on him [Andy Murray] for withdrawing the day of his match when he knew he wasnt fit to enter the draw, or is that treatment reserved for djokovic at uso," wrote the user.

Rothenberg was quick to defend himself, stating Djokovic's case was unique as he could not enter the country whereas Murray was already onsite when he announced his withdrawal.

"People bring this up any time a player pulls out late, but no, Djokovic staying entered in the US Open (and Indian Wells earlier in 2022) when he wasn't legally allowed to enter the USA was a profoundly unique situation. Any player who was on site practicing doesn't compare," replied the veteran journalist.