Novak Djokovic has called for earlier starts on show courts at Wimbledon after his last-16 win over Tim van Rijthoven on Sunday finished just 20 minutes before the 11pm deadline.
Play on Centre Court has been starting at 1.30pm each day, with the exception of Sunday as the time was pushed back due to the arena's centenary celebrations. It meant that despite winning in four sets, the Serbian didn't leave SW19 until gone midnight by the time he'd finished media duties.
The roof on Centre Court was initially installed to protect matches from being rained off, but is now also utilised to combat fading light. It means that play can potentially last until 11pm, with Andy Murray and Serena Williams two players to suffer late-night exits last week.
To compound matters, winning players are now subjected to live BBC interviews on court before heading back to the dressing room, and there is a customary 20-minute break between matches. And now Djokovic, 35, has come out in favour of provisional talks to bring start times forward on both Centre Court and Court 1.
"I hear there are some talks about maybe moving the beginning of the matches, the first matches on the big courts, especially Centre Court, a bit earlier,” said Djokovic, via the Telegraph . "I don't see a reason why there wouldn't be an earlier start, to be honest, particularly now that there are on-court interviews that we didn't have up to a few years ago.
"Also the time between the matches. You almost certainly, if you're scheduled last on the Centre, going to end up a match under the roof, which changes the conditions, the style of play, the way you move on the court. It's more slippery."
The Serbian, six times a winner at SW19, argued that the notion of the roof tarnished Wimbledon's status as an outdoor grass-court event: "Since there are some changes this year that we never thought we'll see in Wimbledon, why not move it for half an hour, one hour earlier," he added.
"I think it would be quite helpful to finish matches maybe not using the roof.” It wasn't just a late finish that the defending champion had to deal with on Sunday, but also a spirited effort from the world No 104.
Having taken the first set 6-2, the top seed looked well-placed to continue his run of not dropping a single set in the tournament. However, van Rijthoven had other ideas, coming through a marathon service game to take the second 6-4 and level the match.
Djokovic immediately seized back the initiative though, breaking twice in the next set to take it 6-1, and was equally dominant in the fourth as he broke two more times en route to taking it 6-2. The avoidance of a fifth set also saved him the inconvenience of the match rolling over into Monday.
It means a quarter-final clash now between Djokovic and 10th seed Jannik Sinner on Tuesday. The Italian came though his own fourth round match with Carlos Alcaraz, knocking out the fifth seed in a four-set thriller.
That match will almost certainly be scheduled for Centre Court, where Djokovic has played all four of his matches so far. Remaining British hope Cam Norrie is also expected to receive top billing for his match with David Goffin.
