Wimbledon made the bold decision to postpone Arthur Fery’s clash with Luciano Darderi on Court 2 due to bad light. Darderi was leading 6-4, 6-3 when the match supervisor walked on court.
He told both players that due to bad light they would not be able to start the third set. It means they will have to return on Thursday afternoon.
However, BBC commentators Matt Chilton and Dom Inglot were both shocked at how early the decision was made. Play was suspended at 8.45pm but has gone on until around 9.15pm on previous evenings.
Chilton said: “There is a collective groan around the ground now. That is a little surprising that at quarter to nine, play is suspended.”
Inglot added: “Well I am shocked. If I was Darderi I would be carrying on as long as I possibly could. He is playing some unbelievable tennis right now.
“You never know, he could come back tomorrow and not be feeling it like he is right now.”
Chilton followed up with: “They have been going on till much later than this. However, the decision has been made and these two will return to this court tomorrow.”
British star Fery beat No.20 seed Alexei Popyrin in the first round but faces a huge uphill task to stay in his home Grand Slam. The world No.481 had never won a tour-level match prior to this years Championships.
And he is now looking forward to moving up the world rankings and hopefully qualifying for more events.
“It’s going to help my ranking, for sure,” Fery explained after his first-round victory. “It’s obviously a big tournament, more points than if I was playing a challenger.
“At the end of the day it’s just a tennis match. Just got to treat it like that. It’s not more special, more important than the match you play at Nottingham. Just got to stay on the right line and keep moving forwards.”
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