For years, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Sir Andy Murray went head-to-head on Wimbledon’s iconic grass courts. Yet, off the court, the three tennis legends are all in agreement on one contentious issue — the use of Centre Court’s retractable roof.
Djokovic — the only member of the trio still competing — thrust the debate back into the limelight during his gripping five-set quarter-final clash with Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday evening. The Serb unleashed a fierce tirade against Wimbledon tournament referee Denise Parnell when she opted to close the roof on Centre Court at 7.40pm local time following the end of the second set.
With sunset not expected until around 9.15pm, there was still well over an hour of daylight remaining before the floodlights, fitted inside the retractable roof, would be needed. However, Parnell, who boasts more than two decades of officiating experience at the Championships, chose to shut the roof to avoid the possibility of having to halt play midway through a set.
That did not sit well with Djokovic, who is currently chasing a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title. “Why now? Why? The other day you didn’t want to close it until, like, 8.20, 8.30, and now you want to close it?” said the 39-year-old.
“You don’t want to get to 8.30? It’s 7.40 now. We can play a whole another set. Outdoors. We are an outdoor tournament.”
Parnell referenced Jannik Sinner’s fourth-round match against Shintaro Mochizuki, when the roof was closed in the middle of the second set, only for Djokovic to snap back: “With Jannik, I don’t care what happens. I care about our match right now.”
Djokovic isn’t the only player to hold this view, with two of his fiercest rivals having expressed similar grievances over the years. Nadal voiced his own concerns following his 2018 semi-final loss to Djokovic, questioning why the roof stayed shut despite dry conditions and plenty of natural light.
It’s an outdoor tournament,” the Spaniard said. “OK, we start indoors. What I don’t understand is, today, we could have started outdoors. Today we continued undercover because we started undercover.
“I don’t think it’s right, it’s an outdoor tournament. If the previous part of the match started with the roof on, there was logic, but I don’t understand why it had to be closed.”
Murray, meanwhile, previously stated that competing under the roof completely changed conditions, claiming the humidity made the balls heavier and left his hands so damp that he found it difficult to hold his racket. The Scot also criticised officials for keeping players uninformed about when the roof would be shut.
It’s tough when you’re warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it’s dry and then get told you’re playing under the roof,” he said. “In very few sports would coaches and teams be particularly happy if they don’t know exactly what time they are going to kick off or what the conditions are going to be like when they go out there.”
