Novak Djokovic has urged Wimbledon to rethink its start times as he prepares to play for the third day in a row.
The defending champion takes on Andrey Rublev in Tuesday’s quarter-finals, having played his previous match against Hubert Hurkacz over two days.
Play starts each day at 13:00 BST (3 pm) on Court One and 13:30 (3:30 pm) on Centre, with a 23:00 (1 am) curfew resulting in some matches being suspended until the next day.
“I think the matches could be pushed at least to start at 12:00 (2 pm),” he said. “I think it would make a difference.”
He described how he had spent seven hours waiting for his fourth-round match against Hurkacz to start on Sunday because the earlier matches ran long.
And he then had the opposite issue when the matchup resumed for a fourth set on Monday, with the preceding tie finishing quickly because Beatriz Haddad Maia retired injured after just 21 minutes of play against Elena Rybakina.
“I think there are different ways that I’m sure they will address this issue and try to avoid having these kind of problems in the future,” Djokovic said.
Sally Bolton, CEO at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, said on Monday there was no guarantee an earlier start time would be considered on Centre Court for next year’s tournament.
Djokovic said he hoped he would recover and be as fresh as he possibly could be when he meets Russian seventh seed Rublev for a place in the last four.
Rublev — aiming to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final — got his five-setter in the previous round finished on Sunday, and so meets the 23-time major champion having had a day of rest.
And, with a 3-1 losing record against the seven-time Wimbledon winner, he will be glad of it.
“Novak is one of the best players on grass, the player who [in the] last couple of years almost doesn’t lose on grass. In my case, nothing to say. Just to go there and to try to do, to fight, do as best as I can my job.”
Tuesday’s other men’s quarter-final pits Italian eighth seed Jannik Sinner against Russian world number 92 Roman Safiullin, who had never been beyond the second round at a Grand Slam until now.
He might have done at last month’s French Open — but he forgot to enter the qualifying tournament.
The 25-year-old, who does not have a clothing sponsor and is staying in a budget hotel, is hoping his life will change after guaranteeing himself £340,000 (Sh61.8m) for progressing to this stage. Not that he will be changing hotels.
“Why should I change it?” he said. “Of course it’s not like five stars, but I like the bed.”
