5 Years After Wimbledon Controversy, Referee Spills the Beans on Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic?s Contrasting Takes During Their High-Octane Encounter

What is the longest tennis match you have ever witnessed? Some may say 10 hours, while others will say 12, but did you know that there was once a game that started on Friday and ended on Saturday? Yes, the historic matchup between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2018 semifinals. Although the match was just 5 hours and 15 minutes long, it was just the second-longest tennis match ever.

But at the same time, it grabbed a lot of headlines. The on-duty referee who was present at the time spilled that right bean on the roof discrepancy that happened during the semifinals.

Former Wimbledon referee on Djokovic-Nadal’s semi-finals’ roof discrepancy

The five-hour and 15-minute match is the second-longest match in Wimbledon history. And that’s not it! Apart from that, the clash also opened the rule book of tennis because of Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew. The semi-final clash was suspended with the Serbian tennis player leading by two sets to one. Following that, on Saturday the next day, they completed their five-set battle by playing two sets under the closed roofs of the Centre Court.

While the 23-time Grand Slam champion agreed to complete the game the next day. The Spaniard, on the other hand, was against the decision. However, ex-Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett, in a recent interview with the Daily Mail, talked about the roof discrepancy. While the play was suspended on Friday night, after a three-set match, the Centre Court didn’t open the roofs the next day, and the remaining two were played under closed roofs.

He said, “The convention was if you started a match like that you finished it, though the following year that was changed. I thought the fairest thing was to see if both players could agree to it being reopened. But it wasn?t a great surprise that they had differing views on that.”

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The match continued indoors, as rules required both players to agree to close or open the roof upon continuation. While both of them share one of the greatest rivalries on the tennis court. The roof controversy sparked Wimbledon to change a rule in their rule book.

The Djokovic-Nadal roof controversy changed the Wimbledon rules

The thrilling semifinal matches compelled the tournament organizers to change the rules. Wimbledon organizers have taken many initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of the two-week event. Notably, they have taken into account the continued usage of single-use plastic racket covers in light of the need to combat climate change and other environmental challenges.

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After that season, it was decided that any match that was postponed because of the curfew at 11 p.m. would not be discussed with the respective players. Nevertheless, organizers made a fixed call that the match will be completed the next day outdoors unless rain takes charge.