Novak Djokovic is looking to win his eighth Wimbledon title this year (Picture: Getty)
Novak Djokovic was left ‘confused’ over the ‘strange’ rain delay which interrupted his opening Wimbledon win against Pedro Cachin.
The match was interrupted for over 80 minutes after the first set and despite the roof coming out on Centre Court, it was deemed not possible for play to resume.
Ground staff were seen using leaf blowers in an attempt to get the surface fit for play while Djokovic dabbed the court with his towel.
‘A little bit of strange circumstances with the roof being closed, and us delaying the match for almost an hour and a half,’ Djokovic said.
Asked if the roof came out too late and his concerns over the state of the court, Djokovic added: ‘[The umpire and I] did talk about that.
‘I was communicating quite a lot out of the court with supervisor and referee and chairman of the club came down as well.
‘They were all a little bit confused because that’s something that they never experienced ever since the roof was installed on the Centre Court.
‘It normally takes 10 to 20 minutes when the roof is closed for the air-conditioning to do its job and grass to dry and to be ready for play.
‘That was the case with Court 1 actually. We saw that players came back after maybe 15 minutes to Court 1, and they resumed play. But we didn’t and we couldn’t really.
‘Both of us players wanted to come out. We did several times to show to the crowd that we want to play, we want to be there.
‘But it was just too many places on the court which were too slippery and really moist. Touch the grass and your palm is completely wet.
‘It was very strange that for more than an hour the situation was not changing at all for better.
‘I think they’re tracking right now. I think they will probably answer this question better for you, whether it’s the air-conditioning system, it was quite humid, so that didn’t help.
‘Grass is such a sensitive surface for maintenance. It’s definitely very challenging if you have, say, a minute or two more of rain than you need to.
‘At the same time, yeah, I think it was a good call from chair umpire, even though I did ask him.
‘He wanted to finish the game. It was still playable, so to say. As soon as we finished the game, maintenance people from the court staff came inside and covered the court.
Novak Djokovic is looking to win his 24th Grand Slam trophy at Wimbledon this year (Picture: Getty)
‘I don’t think it has gotten too much wet from that maybe extra minute and a half or something.
‘I just feel it has something to do with something else. That’s probably not a question for me.
‘We were lucky that rain stopped so we could resume play with an open roof.’
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Pressed if ground staff needed to turn the air conditioning up, Djokovic said: ‘They did everything they possibly could.
‘As I said, we communicated every few minutes. They were also very confused about what’s going on. I guess they will check that.
‘Hopefully they’ll fix it because that’s one of the only two courts that has roof. If it starts raining, if you can’t play under the roof, that’s a little bit of an issue for schedule.’
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‘A little bit of strange circumstances…’
