Taylor Fritz Once Again Hit With Wimbledon Delay, But Advances To Third Round
The American laughed when officials told him they would have to delay the match to close the roof.
If anyone at Wimbledon has a right to be very angry about scheduling and delays, it's American star Taylor Fritz. Fritz showed his frustration on Monday when officials suspended his first-round match against Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard without even trying to finish before the 11 p.m. curfew.
Fritz had just come back to win the fourth set in dramatic fashion and there were 40 minutes until curfew on Monday night. But officials decided to suspend that match at that point, meaning Fritz had to return to the court on Tuesday.
He ultimately defeated Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday, setting up a second-round matchup against Gabriel Diallo on Wednesday. Diallo won the first set, but Fritz bounced back to win sets two and three and put him one set away from a third-round berth.
Once again, though, Fritz had to wait to finish the match. This time, officials informed Fritz that they needed to close the roof on the court, which would take some time, and the players left the court. Just like on Monday, it came at a terrible time for Fritz, who had just bageled Diallo in the third-set tiebreak, meaning he had all the momentum.
American Taylor Fritz has had both of his matches at Wimbledon delayed, once due to curfew and once due to a roof closure, and that seems very unfair.
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
The way Wimbledon usually works is that players compete every other day, giving them a chance to rest in between matches – at least once they get to the main draw. However, Fritz has been on the court three days in a row and is now likely to finish his match late in the day on Wednesday, cutting into his rest time prior to a potential third-round match on Friday.
That seems… unfair. They could have easily closed the roof prior to the start of the match, so there would be no delay. Instead, they elected not to do so.
To his credit, Fritz appeared to be in better spirits with Wednesday's stop than he was on Monday. He was seen laughing when the official came over to explain that the second-round match would be suspended immediately. Although that could have been more of an "of course I have to go through this again" laugh.
The American has faced some tough breaks at Wimbledon thus far, but has a great chance to fight through it and advance into the third round for the fourth time in the past five years.
UPDATE: Taylor Fritz lost the fourth set to Diallo following the roof closure, but rallied to win the deciding fifth set to close out the match and advance to the third round on Friday.
Fortunately for the American, he'll be the beneficiary of the curfew in that one as he awaits the winner of the match between Boticvan De Zandschulp and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, which was suspended on Wednesday and will be completed on Thursday.