Wimbledon men have unfinished business

Wimbledon men have unfinished business

Novak Djokovic returns a shot during his semi-final match against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon on Friday. The suspended match resumes Saturday evening, Thailand time. (Reuters Photo)
Novak Djokovic returns a shot during his semi-final match against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon on Friday. The suspended match resumes Saturday evening, Thailand time. (Reuters Photo)

LONDON: It was the kind of tennis that Wimbledon's Centre Court crowd would gladly have watched all night long.

The show being put on by Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was so good it could have been an instant classic had they been able to finish their semifinal before the tournament's 11pm curfew on Friday night.

Instead, the two players — and a disappointed audience — were sent home after the third set with Djokovic leading 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9) following a tense tiebreaker that had more entertaining rallies than some entire matches.

Play is scheduled to resume Saturday at 1pm local time (7pm Thailand time), before the women’s final between Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber.

The men’s final on Sunday, meanwhile, will face stiff competition for global viewers as it coincides with the World Cup final in Moscow. It starts at 8pm Thailand time while France and Croatia kick off at 10pm.  Men’s finals typically last anywhere between three and five hours.

For the semi-final, Nadal and Djokovic did not even get onto the court until after 8pm because of an earlier marathon semifinal between Kevin Anderson of South Africa and John Isner of the United States.

In the second longest match in Wimbledon history, Anderson triumphed after 6 hours and 36 minutes, 7-6(6) 6-7(5) 6-7(9) 6-4 26-24.

Isner also holds the distinction of winning the longest match in Wimbledon history. That came eight years ago in a first-round contest against Nicolas Mahut. It required three days and a fifth set that became a global talking and gawking point as it stretched to 70-68. Its official time was 11 hours and 5 minutes.

Djokovic and Nadal have five Wimbledon titles between them and met in the 2011 final, while Anderson and Isner had never made the semifinals before.

“They've paid to see two matches, and they came pretty close to only seeing one match,” Anderson said of the fans on Friday night. “I can feel the crowd (get) pretty antsy for us to get off the court. They've been watching us for over six hours.”

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