Wimbledon’s curfew has come into play repeatedly during this year’s Championship, notably on Thursday night when Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas’ second-round match was suspended after three sets and on Sunday evening as Novak Djokovic vs Hubert Hurkacz went off after two.
Centre Court and No. 1 Court have used their roofs to ensure extra tennis is played late into the evening. But there is a limit to how late the action can last at SW19, even with the roof and floodlights able to give fans an extended day out.
After the five-set match between Liam Broady and Casper Ruud, and Alize Cornet’s injury delaying defending champion Elena Rybakina’s second-round victory, Murray and Tsitsipas’ start time was pushed back. Djokovic and Hurkacz were similarly affected three days later after Andrey Rublev vs Alexander Bublik went to five sets and women’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek played a three-hour epic against Belinda Bencic.
Last year’s US Open saw Carlos Alcaraz and Marin Cilic finish their match at 2:23am. While the Australian Open earlier this year saw Andy Murray start his second-round match against Thanasi Kokkinakis after 10pm, with a 4:05am finish.
But the rules are different at Wimbledon, here’s everything you need to know about the curfew.
When is the Wimbledon curfew?
The Wimbledon curfew is at 11pm local time (6pm ET) and has been in place since 2009 when Centre Court’s roof opened, introduced by Merton Council in order to obtain planning permission for the roof.
A statement from Wimbledon in 2018 read: “The 11pm curfew is a Planning Condition applied to balance the consideration of the local residents with the scale of an international tennis event that takes place in a residential area.
“The challenge of transport connectivity and getting visitors home safely is also a key consideration.”
What are the curfew rules?
The rules state that a match is not permitted to go beyond 11pm (6pm ET).
Matches that have been paused include Novak Djokovic against Rafael Nadal in their 2018 semi-final after the third set, having started at 8pm.
Nick Kyrgios and Ugo Humbert had their match suspended when tied at 3-3 in the fifth set too.
Is there any exception to the curfew?
The curfew has been pushed slightly back in 2012. Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis with the clock striking 11:02pm local time. Murray was just one game from victory at 11pm.
Merton Council’s leader Stephen Alambritis commented at the time, stating: “flexibility and common sense prevailed”.
“We were in touch with the All England Club from 10pm onwards and there were discussions between our planning officers and the tournament director,” he said.
“We have always said these prearrangements were to be used with discretion, so I was pleased flexibility and common sense prevailed, because we have a duty to both the residents as well as the tennis.”
The next latest match to finish was in 2010 when Novak Djokovic beat Olivier Rochus with two minutes to spare, finishing at 10:58pm.
