“This is on the tournament organizers” – Paul McNamee’s comment on Novak Djokovic and Hubert Hurkacz’s suspended match starts a debate as Wimbledon scheduling again takes centre stage
Former tennis player Paul McNamee commented on the curfew rule of this year's Wimbledon after Novak Djokovic's match against Hubert Hurkacz was halted yesterday.
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Paul McNamee(left) and Novak Djokovic(right).
There is a serious issue in this year’s Wimbledon Championship, with many ongoing matches being halted due to the 11 p.m. curfew. As expected, fans are not at all happy with this new decision that the All England Club has taken this year. Wimbledon matches are starting late, this time at 1:30 PM in the afternoon, and matches are getting closed early without completion, which is leading to the concentration breakdown of players.
Former tennis player Paul McNamee has commented on this issue after Novak Djokovic‘s match against Hubert Hurkacz was halted yesterday, even after Novak won both the first two sets and there was still time left for the third set to be completed. The association decided to suspend the match at that moment and postpone the rest of the match to take place the next day, thereby disrupting the concentration and focus of both players at that moment.
McNamee felt that the curfew rules of the tournament needs to be thought over yet again and changed accordingly. He posted his views on Twitter saying, “2 sets to love Djokovic and play is suspended… I think one more set to give a chance for the match to be finished, well before midnight at that, would have been a far more sensible decision… I mean, seriously, curfew rules need to be revisited.”
How have this year’s curfew rules affected the players?
This year’s curfew rules have had a bigger impact on players’ mindsets and their approach to a particular match. There have been times when a certain player has been dominating his opponent and is close to a win, but due to the play being suspended and rescheduled for the next day, that player suffers a defeat. Players prepare for every particular opponent differently, thereby having a different plan going into the match, but when the match is postponed, it can result in the plan collapsing.
Sharing a wide spectrum of reactions online, here’s what fans have to say:
Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has been the victim of this rule when he was winning and dominating Stefanos Tsitsipas on the original matchday with just a set to win but the play was halted with Murray left completely devastated and unhappy with the decision. The following day he couldn’t recover from that and lost the following two sets getting knocked out in what was very likely his last ever Wimbledon participation.
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