It’s all too brief for these friends of court
Djokovic, Federer win quickly as injured foes call it quits, and fans are left unsatisfied.
LONDON — Novak Djokovic’s first-round match at Wimbledon lasted all of 40 minutes Tuesday. Roger Federer’s, which was next in the All England Club’s main stadium, went 43.
When two of tennis’ biggest stars crossed paths after both advanced when opponents stopped playing because of preexisting injuries, they joked about a way to try to make it up to the fans.
“We had a little joke about it in the locker room,” Djokovic recounted, “saying we should maybe play a practice set on the Centre Court, have the crowd stay.”
The short workdays for the two were quite similar. Djokovic led 6-3, 2-0 when Martin Klizan retired because of a left leg problem that has bothered him for about two months; Federer was ahead 6-3, 3-0 when Alexandr Dolgopolov quit because of a painful right ankle he first twisted last month.
Those still go into the books as match wins — Federer’s 85th at Wimbledon, breaking a tie with Jimmy Connors for most in the Open era, and Djokovic’s 234th at all majors, moving ahead of Connors and alone into second place in history, behind only Federer’s 315.
But the way the afternoon went meant Centre Court spectators who paid 56 pounds (more than $70) per ticket, some of them waiting in line for hours, got only brief glimpses of seventime champion Federer or three-time champion Djokovic. They did, however, have the opportunity to watch a pair of top women, current No. 1 Angelique Kerber and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, win fulllength matches.
“I feel for the crowd. They’re there to watch good tennis . . . . At least they see the two of us, who gave it all they had. They saw other players that tried, at least,” Federer said. “It’s unfortunate it happened.”
Two other men also stopped mid-match Tuesday, 19th-seeded Feliciano Lopez (left foot) and Janko Tipsarevic (right leg), bringing the first-round retirement total to seven. That equals 2008 for the most by men in the first round during the 50 editions of Wimbledon in the Open era.
It sparked discussion about whether Grand Slam tournaments should allow players to still receive prize money if they withdraw before an event. The ATP Tour — which doesn’t run majors — is doing that on a trial basis this season and lets someone who lost in qualifying take the main-draw spot of an injured player.
The theory behind it: Players who are injured won’t step on court simply to collect their prize money as an entrant, before calling it a day without finishing the match. A first-round loser at Wimbledon earns 35,000 pounds (about $45,000).
“Unless you’re top 10 it’s significant money,” said Dolgopolov, who is ranked 84th.
At Centre Court on Tuesday, Kerber, last year’s runner-up to Serena Williams at the All England Club, got past Irina Falconi of the U.S. 6-4, 6-4, and Wozniacki, a two-time U.S. Open finalist, needed three sets to edge Timea Babos 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.