Fans and players gear up for Wimbledon quarter-finals

Tennis fans and players will be gearing up for the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic will take on Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the last eight on Tuesday.

Djokovic joined fans in calling for Wimbledon to start play earlier on Centre Court after finishing his suspended game against Hubert Hurkacz on Monday afternoon.

He told reporters: “I think the matches could be pushed at least to start at 12pm. I think it would make a difference.”

Complaints poured in on social media from fans keeping up with the tournament who expressed “frustration” at high profile matches being suspended overnight.

Matches involving Sir Andy Murray and Djokovic have both been forced into a second day during this year’s tournament because they have not finished before the council-imposed 11pm curfew.

But final matches on Centre Court and Court One – which start play at 1.30pm and 1pm respectively instead of 11am as per the outdoor courts – finished well before the cut off point on Monday evening.

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina will face Polish Iga Swiatek on Tuesday, switching out the tension of her last match – where Belarusian Victoria Azarenka was booed off by crowds following a narrow defeat – with appreciation for her quarter-finals opponent.

The Pole has spoken up for Ukraine and wears a blue and yellow ribbon, earning praise from Svitolina who called her a “great champion” and a “great person”.

Ukrainian players refuse to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian opponents at the end of matches as a result of the invasion of their country.

Chief executive of the All England Club Sally Bolton told reporters on Monday morning that there will be no instruction to umpires to inform crowds not to expect a handshake if a Ukrainian player faces a Russian or Belarusian, despite the boos aimed at Azarenka.

But the WTA posted on Twitter in the evening: “Due to the ongoing reprehensible war, the WTA respects the position of the Ukrainian athletes in foregoing the tradition of shaking opponents’ hands (from Russia and Belarus) at the end of a match, as this is a personal decision.

“We have some of the best fans in the world and are grateful for their passion and dedication, and we thank them for their understanding and respect for the athletes.”

Ms Bolton did not seem to view the issue of the late finishes as a particular problem, telling reporters on Monday morning: “Historically over many, many decades we’ve always started play on our show courts around early afternoon.

“And that’s very much about ensuring that people have the opportunity to get on court so, as much as is possible the case, we have full courts for when the players walk on, and that’s still absolutely our intention.

“And the other thing we think carefully about is, when people buy a ticket to come to Wimbledon, they want to experience a day at the Championships and that involves going and seeing some play on outside courts, perhaps going to get something to eat, getting some strawberries and cream.

“We understand that our guests want that whole day. Of course every year we look at everything and we get feedback from all of our guest groups, from the player groups and all of our stakeholders.

“We will have a look at that beyond this year’s Championships but that’s the real background to why we have the start time when we do.

“Matches are happening at a time when they’re accessible to people. We’re seeing (TV) viewing figures that are beyond our expectations and beyond previous years so I think they probably speak for themselves.”

Elsewhere in the tournament on Monday, wildcards Naiktha Bains and Maia Lumsden became the first all-British pair to reach the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon women’s doubles in 40 years, hailing the achievement as “surreal”.

In the the mixed doubles, there were second-round exits for Jamie Murray and his American partner Taylor Townsend and British pair Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury.

Sourse: breakingnews.ie

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