Djokovic relieved to win before 11pm curfew after late start

Novak Djokovic first stepped on to Centre Court at 1.45pm and did not finish his fourthround match against Tim van Rijthoven until almost 11 o’clock at night after what mustgodownasaWimbledon scheduling miscalculation.

The top seed and six-time winner joined a parade of former Wimbledon champions alongside the likes of Rod Laver, Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg, Andy Murray and Roger

Federer to celebrate Centre Court’s centenary before play commenced.

However, the decision to begin the ceremony at 1.30pm meant Heather Watson’s match against Jule Niemeier did not start until 2.24pm.

By the time Jannik Sinner had beaten Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, Djokovic finally began his match at 8pm.

The 20-time grand slam champion was therefore in a hurry,butafterracingthrough the first set Dutch dark horse VanRijthoventookthesecond at9.45pm.ButDjokovicputhis footdowntomakesurehenarrowly beat Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew by 21 minutes, meaning he did not have to come back on Monday to finish the match,byrunningouta6-24-6 6-1 6-2 winner.

Clearly the late finish was not ideal for the 35-year-old, as he pointedly thanked the crowd, and fellow six-time singles champion King, for seeing the match through.

“Thanks for staying for this late finish to watch tennis. Thank you Billie Jean for staying, I know it’s been a long day,” he said.

“Under the roof it takes a bit of time to get used to the conditions, but I finished the match well. I don’t know if there was a curfew. There is? Phew! I am lucky, thank God.

“I remember playing a matchovertwodayswith(Rafael) Nadal a few years ago, in the semi-final. It’s never very pleasant.”

Djokovic later revealed talks have taken place about thepossibilityofstartingplay earlier on Wimbledon’s show courts, a move he would advocate. “I don’t see a reason why there wouldn’t be an earlier start,tobehonest,particularlynowthatthereareon-court interviewsthatwedidn’thave up to few years ago,” he said.

“Also with the time between the matches, almost certainly, if you’re scheduled last on Centre, you’re going to end up a match under the roof. I think most of the playerswouldprobablyagreethat we would all want the start of the match on Centre Court pushed earlier.”