Wimbledon: Djokovic urges starting the match early

Center Court matches start at 1.30pm local time at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, with Court 1 starting just half an hour early. Since matches must be finished by 11pm at the latest due to the night’s rest in the area, many games could not be completed this year.

It had to be continued the next day. It also affected Djokovic’s match against Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the round of 16. “Understandably, changing the start of the night’s rest is much more difficult,” said Djokovic. For this reason, Djokovic, who has won the Turf Classic seven times so far, said organizers should consider starting the Games earlier.

Djokovic also described in the press conference how he had to wait seven hours before the round of 16 match against Hurkacz on Sunday because previous matches were still ongoing. On Monday, he suddenly had to play earlier than expected because Beatrix Haddad Maya had to retire after just 21 minutes due to injury. “I think there are different ways to avoid these problems from happening in the future.”

Coach Wimbledon makes no guarantees

There is no guarantee matches will start as early as on center court in a year’s time, said Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, on Monday. Djokovic will meet there again on Tuesday when he meets Russia’s Andrei Rublev in the quarter-finals starting at 3:00 pm (CET).

Championships, Wimbledon

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men’s singles

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