Andy Murray urges Wimbledon to bring Centre Court start times forward – after late night curfew saw him knocked out by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round in July
- Andy Murray has joined in calling for Wimbledon to bring start times forward
- Murray previously complained about the timings citing he wanted to see his kids
- The Scotsman starts his US Open journey against Corentin Moutet on Tuesday
Andy Murray has joined those calling for Wimbledon to bring its Centre Court start times forward next year after a late night suspension contributed to his second round exit at this year’s Championships.
The 36 year-old Scot, preparing for Monday’s start to the US Open, had the momentum and a 2-1 set lead this year over Stefanos Tsitsipas with the roof closed when play was suspended due to the late hour. Coming back the next day and playing outdoors he lost the next two sets.
The new start time of 1.30pm on the main arena and a backed up programme made it impossible to finish due to the 11pm curfew, and he wants to see a reversion.
‘Wimbledon, they obviously need to change the start times of the matches and move it sooner,’ he said. ‘Stop having the 20 minute breaks between the matches. It might still happen from time to time but you’re doing the best that you can to avoid it.’
Andy Murray has just recovered from an abdominal injury that kept him out of a Masters event
The 36-year-old was knocked out of Wimbledon by Stefanos Tsitsipas in only the second round
Murray was heartbroken after crashing out of WImbledon but will look to go further in the US
Murray also suffered from an extreme late finish at the Australian Open, when he beat Thanasi Kokkinakis at past 4am. The US Open has refused to do anything this year to mitigate the prospect of extreme late finishes.
‘The reason for it is purely financial. It’s not because the people that are running the events believe that it’s good for the sport or good for the players,’ he said.
‘They could solve it if they want to start at 7.30pm, if they want to play two women’s matches, that time is fine. If they want to play a men’s match, then you can only play one match unless you’re going to start sooner.
‘I think just generally it’s just not good for anyone. I know I’m fortunate to be playing tennis but it’s just playing at four in the morning doesn’t help the sport that much when everyone’s leaving because they have to go and get public transport home and you finish a match like that in front of like 10 per cent of the crowd. You don’t see it in other sports so it’s clearly wrong.’
Murray will face Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday and is pleased with the way he has recovered from an abdominal injury which kept him out of the recent Masters level event in Cincinnati.
‘I came to New York pretty early and went to one of the hospitals here and had the radiologist from back home who looks at my scans check them. I had a small tear which is healing. And the last five or six days of practice have been really good, I have not had any issues serving,’ he added.