Wimbledon, England — Marine Cilic was not happy with his schedule at Wimbledon on Monday after losing to Flavio Koboli in his fourth match, arranged at 11am local time.
Cilic, 36, said the Wimbledon clinic court was not open until 9:30am and the second court where his match was held was pretty soft even after the rain overnight so they must be kept warm indoors.
Playing at Wimbledon outside courts is scheduled to begin at 11am throughout the two weeks, but matches at Centre Court and No. 1 courtrooms will begin at least two hours later.
However, Cilic questioned whether tournament organizers should play all singles matches later that day in the fourth round.
“I don’t like to talk about conditions. Ok, I’ve lost it. I have to accept it,” Cilic said. “But why do I feel bitter about playing at 11 o’clock?”
Cobolli-Cilic Meeting was only one of the eight singles matches held on Monday that had such an early start time.
Liudmila Samsonova’s match against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro followed Cobolli and Cilic in the second court, with six other matches being held in the Centre Court and No. 1 court.
“It was raining overnight and the court was very soft,” Cilic said. “It was really hard to play. Just push the ball into the middle of the court and the ball just stays very low. It was just a struggle.”
He lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3). Still, it was a relatively successful Wimbledon for Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion who finished runner-up at the All-England Club in 2017.
Cilic returns to top-level tennis after undergoing two knee surgery and plays this year at lower-level Challenger Tour events to promote his rankings. He had to do the qualifying round just to get into the brackets of the French Open, which he lost in the first round.
“There’s great encouragement, happiness, positive attitude, positive outcomes from the tournament,” he said. “I found some great shapes and played some great tennis, and it was still pretty close today.”
