Wimbledon has delayed its traditional start time for the men’s final and concerns have been expressed that the roof couldn’t interrupt the clash between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Jamie Murray admits he’s concerned that the later starting time for the Wimbledon final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner could end up forcing the players to pause their match due to light which is “not right”.
The Spaniard and the Italian, the top two ranked seeds, will renew their rivalry at SW19 but their contest will begin later than usual. For years the Wimbledon final has began at 2pm, but it was confirmed that this year the finals would start at 4pm.
However Murray has expressed concern given that the last Grand Slam final between Alcaraz and Sinner at the French Open lasted five hours and 29 minutes. The Spaniard staging an epic comeback from two sets down to retain his title in Paris.
A repeat of that would be problematic at Wimbledon though with bad light likely halting the contest. It would require the roof to close, bringing the match to a stop for a period, before getting back underway. That wouldn’t be an issue with a 2pm start time.
The Scot, who was a mixed doubles winner at Wimbledon, concedes that the change will likely have been done to suit an American audience with the final starting at 11am in New York, but has aired issues that could affect the players.
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Murray told Metro: “They’ve obviously moved the final to 4pm for TV. I guess for the [United] States, I guess for the BBC getting a primetime audience or peak audience. That’s a big change. I think what would be sad about that would be if they had to stop the match to close the roof because of light and stuff. It’s not right that I don’t think. But hopefully that doesn’t happen.”
The women’s final on Saturday also embraced the new start time but there was no issue as Iga Swiatek made light work of Amanda Anisimova to claim her first title. The Pole won 6-0, 6-0 to claim her first Wimbledon title in less than an hour on Centre Court.
All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton has claimed that the time change is done “with players in mind” despite the possibility of Alcaraz and Sinner having to pause their match in what will likely be the latter stages of the final.
She said: “We have adjusted the provisional schedule for the final weekend of The Championships with the ambition of improving the experience for all involved. The move has also been designed with players in mind.
“The doubles players competing in the finals will have increased certainty over their schedule and fans will enjoy each day’s play as it builds towards the crescendo of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles finals, with our champions being crowned in front of the largest possible worldwide audience.”