Novak Djokovic has called for
Wimbledon to overhaul its scheduling and start play earlier on Centre Court so matches don't have to be played across two days. The seven-time champion fell foul of the All
England Club's insistence on beginning matches at 1.30pm when his fourth-round match against Hugo Hurkacz had to be suspended on Sunday night due to the council-imposed 11pm curfew. Andy Murray's match with Stefanos Tsitsipas last week also had to be carried over into a second day, while Djokovic's third-round clash against Stan Wawrinka concluded with only 14 minutes to spare. Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton said on Monday morning that there is no guarantee that an earlier start time will be considered on Centre Court for next year's tournament. But Djokovic, who returned to finish off Hurkacz in four sets on Monday afternoon, was unequivocal in his response when asked if matches should start earlier. "I think so. I agree with that," said the 23-time grand slam winner. "Obviously curfew is probably something that is much more difficult to change, I understand, because of the community and the residential area we are in. I think the matches could be pushed at least to start at 12pm. I think it would make a difference." Two years ago organisers cited Covid for the decision to stagger start times on the two main show courts, keeping Court One at 1pm and pushing Centre back to 1.30pm, while also adding breaks between the matches. This had the consequence of making the final match of the day a prime-time occasion on the
BBC and it appears very much that is now the goal, with Bolton reporting record viewing figures. She did not seem to view the issue of the late finishes as a particular problem, saying: "Historically over many, many decades we've always started play on our show courts around early afternoon. And that's very much about ensuring that people have the opportunity to get on court so, as much as is possible the case, we have full courts for when the players walk on, and that's still absolutely our intention. "And the other thing we think carefully about is, when people buy a ticket to come to Wimbledon, they want to experience a day at the Championships and that involves going and seeing some play on outside courts, perhaps going to get something to eat, getting some strawberries and cream. We understand that our guests want that whole day. "Of course every year we look at everything and we get feedback from all of our guest groups, from the player groups and all of our stakeholders. We will have a look at that beyond this year's Championships but that's the real background to why we have the start time when we do. "Matches are happening at a time when they're accessible to people. We're seeing (TV) viewing figures that are beyond our expectations and beyond previous years so I think they probably speak for themselves." Bolton denied the 1.30pm start time was directly influenced by the BBC, saying: "The broadcasters are one of the stakeholders we consult as we put together all the plans for the Championships but they're not having a direct input into start time on a court." The 11pm curfew is imposed by the local council to prevent late-night disruption from people leaving the grounds in what is a quiet, residential area, and Bolton said the club would not look to try to extend it. Bolton also said there will also be no instruction to umpires to inform crowds not to expect a handshake if a Ukrainian player faces a
Russian or Belarusian, despite the boos aimed at Victoria Azarenka after her match with Elina Svitolina. Wimbledon's 11pm curfew rules The All England Championships have a deadline for play to finish by, meaning play cannot continue at Wimbledon beyond 11pm. The curfew has been in place since 2009 when Centre Court’s roof opened, and was introduced by Merton Council when planning permission for the roof was sought. A statement from Wimbledon in 2018 read: “The 11pm curfew is a planning condition applied to balance the consideration of the local residents with the scale of an international
Tennis event that takes place in a residential area. The challenge of transport connectivity and getting visitors home safely is also a key consideration.” Matches which have previously been paused due to the curfew include
Novak Djokovic v
Rafael Nadal in their 2018 semi-final after the third set, which started at 8pm, while Nick Kyrgios and Ugo Humbert also had their match suspended when tied at 3-3 in the fifth set in 2021. However there have been a few exceptions over the years. The curfew was pushed ever so slightly slightly back in 2012 when Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis at 11.02pm. Murray was just one game from victory at 11pm. Merton Council’s then-leader Stephen Alambritis said at the time that "flexibility and common sense prevailed", saying: "We were in touch with the All England Club from 10pm onwards and there were discussions between our planning officers and the tournament director. We have always said these prearrangements were to be used with discretion, so I was pleased flexibility and common sense prevailed, because we have a duty to both the residents as well as the tennis.” In 2010, Djokovic beat Olivier Rochus with two minutes to spare, finishing at 10.58pm.