Wimbledon Scheduling Ire For Players, Fans

Too much of Stefanos Tsitsipas on court every day? A scintillating Andrey Rublev win over Alexander Bublik meant Novak Djokovic couldn’t finish his? Did Andy Murray benefit from or get hindered by Wimbledon’s inexplicable delayed starts and bizarre curfew times? Questions both players and fans are asking, after a confusing and chaotic first week at the prestigious tennis Grand Slam.

Wimbledon might have done away with lengthy final sets drama by replacing the traditional set finish with two game difference with a 10 point tie break, but few things have gone right for the Wimbledon lawn tennis organisers this past week. If rain meant that there was a backup of matches, tennis fans were having déjà vu feelings spotting Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas play every day on court in week one.

Only the second Sunday when play on court has been scheduled in predetermined fashion ahead of the tournament, which was perhaps a wise thing in hindsight. Russia’s Andrey Rublev, No.7 as per current standings, faced a tough, sticky opponent in Alexander Bublik, who seemed laissez-faire at times but pulled off some big shots when it mattered to frustrate the Russian, taking him to five sets having won tiebreakers in the third and fourth.

As Rublev later said he had to wait patiently for the next break given that he had a few including match points which went abegging as his 6 foot 6 opponent pulled off uncanny moves at critical moments of the match and knew one had to be in the offing. If some of his fellow players did not feel the same way about their opponents, it might have had something to do with the impatience generated by the tournament over the scheduling.

It was a hard fought, scintillating battle though Rublev looked stronger and truer to form on paper unlike others like Tsitsipas or Zverev. This was probably because the schedule did not affect him as much as it did the others. It speaks to the mental strength of the player who is a genial fellow off court and incredibly hard on himself on it while the match is in play.

Fortunately Rublev stayed on his own side for a change and walked away with an incredible shot for winner, while being knocked off his feet, as it were, reaching for it on the penultimate point.

In another match that seemed high quality, it showed a telling picture through this tournament thus far about how the so-called Gen next players share a bizarre dislike of the faster grass courts. They are also feeling the pulse metre of Grand Slam title possibilities whittle as they are already facing pressure from the fast rising tennis stars including Carlos Alacaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner, even as the big three, barring Novak Djokovic, are making room at the top in no hurry.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ overt relationship with fellow tennis star, Spain’s Paula Badosa might have caused some cringeworthy moments for fans not unlike a soap opera. But that has not come in the way of the Greek continuing to power through a busy, rain afflicted week.

It was made busier by the fact that he chose to play men’s doubles with his brother and mixed doubles with his girl friend. But while Badosa pulled out with injury, the end of this ‘all family Greek affair’ in the men’s doubles over the weekend might give Tsitsipas some respite from facing up to the uncertainty of the tournament’s scheduling in more than one format.

Will Tsitsipas, having had to play every day in week one, affect the quality of the contests at the business end or his own fortunes in week two? Will that hurt the tournament’s spectators or bottom line? Interesting points that the organisers are at odds to answer or so it would seem.

While fans have accused the organisers of being partial to their favoured players, that does not seem to be the case as on the day when British players faced a slew of matches. Their respective losses sent a train of gloom around London as Cameron Norrie, Andy Murray and Liam Broady all bit the dust on a crazy full day’s play at the grass courts.

There were no signs that Andy Murray, the 36-year-old, two time Wimbledon champion, making a comeback after hip surgery, was favoured. Nor were there signs of lessons learnt in hindsight from his loss, because despite the rain and the number of matches that had to be suspended, the organisers continued to persist through the weekend of hosting delayed matches on Centre Court.

This was plausibly for broadcast at prime time, which seems inane at times like this, and following curfew rules where the chair umpire and referee deemed the match possible or not to be completed within the allotted time.

It seemed unforgivable that at times matches were delayed and suspended even on Centre Court and Court No.1, both of which boast of retractable roofs.

Andy Murray was leading 2-1 against Tsitsipas in their second round and looked set to complete an unexpectedly heroic rout when play was stopped. When the two players returned the next day, Murray lost his early rhythm and Tsitsipas survived yet another battle against another veteran, having gone through a heart-stopping five set tiebreaker against 2020 U.S. Open winner, Dominic Thiem, in his first round.

While it was considered that Murray lost momentum and Tsitsipas had time to rest, consult and regroup, the Greek player stated otherwise that he had little sleep overnight given the match situation he was in and that his body was showing signs of soreness.

That was not getting in the way of his third round match on Saturday when he beat L. Dere for a round of 16 clash for Monday against a surprise package in Wimbledon debutante, Christopher Eubanks.

In what was expected to be yet another battle of attrition, Zverev’s match against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini was a riveting clash amongst hungrier players who have fallen off the radar through injury and illness. In the case of the German, he tore three ligaments in his ankle while in close battle with Rafael Nadal at last year’s French Open and Berrettini, who like Zverev, missed Wimbledon last year but due to illness in the form of covid.

As the prospect of the match starting got increasingly delayed, at one point, Zverev argued with the chair umpire, complaining of possible rain droplets on his chair. While the chair umpire might have had the better of that moment in sidestepping it as well as the darkening evening, moments later they were all caught aghast when rain splashed down on the open roof court.

When the players did return, which was 45 minutes later, Zverev and Berrettini were seen in a long discussion at the nets with the officials, stating that the court was slippery and that conditions were dark even before the rain break.

The somewhat constricted and ginger manner in which a slightly lacklustre Zverev appeared at times to play seemed on the cards, having played pain-free, as he claimed, only since March post surgery on his ankle, having suffered a thigh strain that apparently hindered him in the semi final clash against Casper Ruud at the French Open recently.

It also forced him to pull out of the pre-Wimbledon tournament warm up, not to mention the fact that after the lengthy rain delay, Zverev was playing his third match on the third consecutive day of the tournament.

Berretini, meanwhile, was pulling out the big guns, making the moments count when it was hard to separate the two players from the points.

The plain speaking German did not hold back when addressing the press conference later, “I think both of us played much better after the break because it was ridiculously dark before the rain delay. We both were saying that to the umpire but their plan wasn’t to play us till 8.30pm. I don’t know how they wanted to plan us more than one hour still.”

As it turned out, the play did not run much deeper into the night, and neither did Djokovic’s on Sunday though that was not always the case this past week when the former no.1 beat Stanislaus Wawrinka before this round. As Zverev lost in three sets, the last two were tie breakers, showing the tight nature of contests amongst those relatively evenly matched.

Some fans unfairly called Zverev’s complaints as a case of sour grapes. They had called his criticism unfair when he had earlier stated that players such as Italy’s Sinner was being showcased on the top courts while other more worthy players had to contend with uncertainty of scheduling on top of playing on outside courts.

While fans are entitled to their opinion, Zverev did make some good points although like much of the week, even well constructed criticism fell on deaf ears as is evidenced from the instance of the final match of Sunday.

Novak Djokovic, looking for his eighth Wimbledon trophy to tie with Roger Federer and playing the last scheduled match of the day, was leading the match two sets to nil although both sets went to tight tie breakers in the round of 16 before the curtains was drawn earlier on the pre-quarter final showdown where Rublev awaited the winner of this contest.

At the time of writing this story, the Serb didn’t curry favour either apparently because his match against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz late on Sunday night was halted half an hour before the scheduled curfew time because the officials deemed that result wasn’t possible within the hour.