Wimbledon curfew not stuck to as American star frustrated by referee's approach

Taylor Fritz admits he "didn't get" why the Wimbledon referee kept asking him about the decision to stop play on Monday night as the American confessed he thought they would be allowed to finish their five-set epic.

Fritz eventually came out on top against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with their match being finished on Court One on Tuesday afternoon. The American came from two sets down to secure a 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 success but the issues from the opening night remained front and centre.

The roof on Wimbledon's Centre Court means that play can go on until 11pm with bad lighting not an issue. The curfew is put in place by Merton council and Fritz and Mpetshi Perricard were both asked if they were ready to play up until the last minute to get the final game of the day completed.

As a result the 27-year-old was frustrated by the early finish as he felt convinced that the game would be allowed to finish up. After the referee made the call Fritz then didn't understand his constant communication.

He said: "I felt very confident if we kept playing, I felt good about it. Yeah, I do think the conditions... He was playing great and anything could have happened last night. It was more just like I felt like we had the time to play. I was mentally in the head space of, like, we are finishing this match tonight.

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"They told us before the match, Hey, are you good to play till 11? We're going to stop at 11. When I'm looking at the clock at the end of the fourth set, I'm thinking, Oh, it's 10, there's no way they're going to stop us. We're for sure playing this fifth set. The idea of stopping wasn't even in my mind. I was fully tunnel visioned on this match is finishing tonight.

"What happened was I get it. We both have to agree. If we don't, then the referee makes a decision. What I didn't understand, the referee, after he said what his decision was, he kept asking me. I think he just wanted me to, like, agree with him.

"I said, I don't know why you keep asking me because I want to play. Stop asking me because you already said we're not playing. I didn't get that."

He also added: "I understand because hypothetically speaking, the rule is a hard stop at 11. It's more convenient to stop in the beginning of a fifth set than it is to stop if we are, again, hypothetically speaking, 45 minutes in. Maybe we're, I don't know, in the middle of a 10-point tiebreaker at 6-All. That's probably where we would be at that time frame if we don't finish."

The final set on Tuesday ultimately took just 37 minutes, meaning it would've finished in time had they kept going on Monday night.

Fritz arrived at SW19 with some impressive form and his big serve is likely to aid him on the grass. He is yet to make an impression at Wimbledon but at last year's US Open reached a Grand Slam final for the first time.