Andy Murray labelled fellow British tennis participant Liam Broady ‘a clown’ throughout a heated alternate between the 2 on social media. The pair argued over Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who produced a outstanding final-set fightback to beat Dianne Parry and guide her place within the fourth spherical of the Australian Open.

Andreeva, 16, trailed her French opponent 5-1 within the third set earlier than storming again to 6-6, and duly prevailed within the tie-break to take a 1-6 6-1 7-6 victory. That prompted Murray to take purpose on the the commentary workforce overlaying her match, posting on X to criticise a touch upon her psychological energy.

“Andreeva down 5-1 in third,” he wrote. “Commentator ‘she really needs to work on mental side of her game.. she’s too hard on herself when she’s losing’. 30 minutes later 7-6 Andreeva wins.

“Maybe the reason she turned the match round is because of her mental strength. Maybe she turned the match around because she is hard on herself and demands more of herself when she’s losing/playing badly? Winner.”

That prompted a reply from Broady, who didn't qualify for the boys’s event at Melbourne Park. “Mental strength is the wrong phrase,” he stated. “To come from 5-1 down in the third in a slam at her age is great mental strength. But perhaps if she had greater mental composure she wouldn’t have gone 5-1 down in the third in the first place?”

Murray, 36, who noticed his personal marketing campaign Down Under ended at the first hurdle by Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, fired again with curiosity. “I don’t understand your tweet,” replied the Scot.

“You said mental strength is the wrong phrase and then in the next sentence say coming from 5-1 down is great mental strength. Liam Broady the walking contradiction.”

And to compound his message, Murray signed off with a clown emoji. Broady didn’t instantly reply to the three-time Grand Slam winner, however continued to argue his level with followers on social media.

Andreeva’s run has been one of many tales of the event. She adopted her first spherical win over Bernarda Parr with a shock hammering of sixth seed Ons Jabeur, and now faces ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic, for a spot within the quarter-finals.