Tennis at the (Bathroom) Breaking Point

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Tennis, a sport known for rapid-fire rallies, sprints to the net and fast-twitch lunges, is being slowed by the most basic of human needs: the bathroom break.

With matches often stretching past an hour and a half, sometimes a player truly has to answer nature’s call during a set. But many times the break appears to be part of a delay strategy, which has frustrated tennis officials eager to keep things moving for less-patient spectators and television viewers.

On Tuesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas left the court for a bathroom break midway through the third set of his nearly four-hour first-round match at the United States Open. While he was gone, his opponent,…