Wimbledon: Taylor Fritz's match against Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard postponed due to curfew

Australia Broadcast Center

01-07-2025

American fifth seed Taylor Fritz has made his displeasure known after his first-round thriller at Wimbledon was halted for a day just as the match was heading into a fifth set.
Fritz had stormed back from 5-1 down in the fourth-set tiebreak against France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to force a fifth and deciding set when match tournament officials emerged on court.
Despite the clock having just ticked past 10:15pm and the tournament's curfew not coming into effect until 11pm, the match was going to be postponed.
With all the momentum and the crowd on his side, Fritz was clearly keen for the match to continue, while Mpetshi Perricard appeared to remain silent in the discussions after both players were called to the net.
After a brief back and forth the Frenchman quietly retired to his seat, while Fritz remonstrated with the match officials, clearly arguing they should continue play until closer to the cut-off.
"Then we stop when we have to stop," the two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist said, before being told "No, we're going to stop now".
"OK, then don't ask me."
He then turned to his player's box and said: "I couldn't do anything. I tried."
The match was being played on court one, under a roof and lights.
Some matches have in the past run slightly over curfew if they were already a few points away from finishing, but the 11pm cut-off gives fans the chance to get out of SW19 before London's Underground stops operating at midnight.
As boos and jeers rang down from the sparsely populated crowd, the umpire announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, due to the late time of the day, we will not be able to finish the match. Therefore the match will be postponed to tomorrow. Play suspended."
Australian doubles legend Todd Woodbridge said it was the wrong call.
"I'm a little surprised by that decision, I think the referee's come out too early," he said in commentary for Stan Sport.
Recent changes mean the final set at Wimbledon can no longer carry on indefinitely as it did in the eight-hour, 70-68 decider between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner in 2010.
Even if the set had gone to 6-6, Fritz and Mpetshi Perricard would simply have played a 10-point tiebreak, and the longest of the three tiebreak sets played in the match had only last 48 minutes.
"He could've given them the option. We still had over 45 minutes to go to curfew; the sets that we've had have all been under 45 minutes — they've been close to it but there was definitely the chance of an outcome there tonight," Woodbridge said.
Fritz later wrote in an Instagram comment: "They would've let us play if my opponent agreed to, I said I wanted to he didn't."
Woodbridge had predicted that might be the case at the time.
"For Mpetshi Perricard, it's good for him. He should get get off and be very happy with that," he said.
"Taylor Fritz would be a little annoyed by that decision, I have no doubt, because he played an exceptional tiebreak from 5-1 to hang in.
"At least he's still in the tournament, he's got to think positively about that."