Djokovic rips courts, calls tourney officials 'completely indecisive'

Novak Djokovic says tournament officials made the "wrong decision" in deciding not to play his fourth-round match against Adrian Mannarino on Monday.

"You know, I obviously was not happy not to play last night. I wanted to play. I thought we could have played," said Djokovic following a straight-set win against the Frenchman on Tuesday. "We were kept for two-and-a-half hours in the dark, in a way, without knowing what we are going to do. So you were on your toes warming up, cooling down. Referee's office was completely indecisive."

The match was scheduled third on Court 1, but long matches stopped it from getting on court. It could have been moved to Centre Court, where play finished about two hours before, and finished under the lights. But the tournament cited "security concerns" about having a large number of spectators still on the grounds re-entering Centre Court.

Djokovic said they could have been moved when play on Centre had finished.

"We spoke with the referee, supervisors, trying to understand the thought process that they are having," he said. "I just think it was a wrong decision not to play us last night, because we could have played. I think the last match on the Centre Court was done before 7:00. Having in mind that Centre Court has the roof and lights, we could have played till 11:00. We went to the referee's office before 8:00. There was security reasons. That was the only excuse.

"…I just didn't see any logic in not playing us on the Centre Court. If the Court 1 ticket holders cannot go to the Centre Court, only the second Centre Court ticket holders can go, which they were already at the hill. They could just make the announcement, move them in and we could play."

Djokovic also had issues with the condition on Centre Court, saying there was a hole in the court and no grass around the baselines, which he described as a “hindrance” to players. The Serb declined to discuss an apparent arm injury when asked about the problem by Serbian press, but did call the trainer twice during the encounter.

Unlike the other men's quarterfinalists, he will not get a day off in between.

"Anyway, it was frustrating last night, I must admit," he said. “But I quickly just turned the next page and just focused on what I need to do today. I've done it in straight sets."

Djokovic next plays Tomas Berdych.

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