09 July,2026 09:02 AM IST | London | Agencies
Novak Djokovic celebrates his win over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday. Pic/AP, PTI
On Tuesday, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic became the latest player to complain about Wimbledon's arbitrary decision to close the roof mid-match, which often results in the momentum of the game shifting due to the 40-minute halt in play (see box on roof closing).
Serbia's Djokovic and Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime had traded one set apiece when the decision to close the roof was made, leaving the World No. 7 furious.
"The other day you didn't want to close it until 8.30pm. Now you want to close it. It's 7.40pm now. Where's the consistency? We can play a whole other set outdoors. You are so proud of your rules, but you're not sticking to any of them," Djokovic argued with the match official, before going to on to win the tournament's longest quarter-final at five hours and 15 minutes, 7-6 (12-10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (10-4) win.
Earlier, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov had also expressed his displeasure at the long waiting time for play to resume while the roof was being closed, claiming there was ample natural light for play to continue. "I don't understand why we can't start closing it during the game," he said in the aftermath of his Round Three victory over Italy's Matteo Berrettini.
USA's Taylor Fritz also weighed into the debate after his last-16 win over Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik. "If they start the match an hour before it's going to get too dark, they know they're going to have to close the roof for sure at some point in the match, so they should probably just start with it closed," said Fritz.
315
No. of minutes the last-eight tie between Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime went on for; the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history
Wimbledon's retractable roof takes about 10 minutes to close, but an extra 20 to 30 minutes is needed for the air-conditioning system to adjust the court conditions. Since a closed roof traps moisture and humidity, balls get a bit softer and heavier due to which they skid and keep low after bouncing.
Due to these changes in conditions, players are granted another full warm-up under the roof. The roof is closed due to rain, extreme heat or fading light, and stays shut till the match ends.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
