Wimbeldon: Rain halts play, Novak Djokovic will play
WIMBLEDON, England –
Rain again affected play at Wimbledon on Day 3 of the grass tournament, and environmentalists also halted two matches.
Intermittent showers on Wednesday caused games on the outdoor courts to be halted twice, while play in major stadiums was also briefly halted due to the weather.
That did not stop top woman Iga Swiatek and defending champion Novak Djokovic from reaching the third round in two sets on Center Court. But it prevented several other players from even taking the field, with some first-round matches postponed to Thursday.
Two Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested after disrupting a game by running onto Court 18 and throwing orange confetti on the grass, before being led away by security. That stopped the first-round encounter between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro early in the second set, and the rain then came before the confetti could be cleared.
The game resumed with the others after the rain delay. The two protesters were arrested “on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage,” the All England Club said in a statement.
A few hours later, during the next game on the same field, another man representing the same organization also threw orange confetti on the grass before guards rounded him up and dragged him away. He was also arrested.
“Obviously it’s not pleasant,” Dimitrov said of the upset after winning his match in straight sets. “At the end of the day there’s not much you can do. I think everybody did their part in a way as soon as possible. I mean, rain was coming so it was also a bit lucky to get off the pitch and have some time to regroup a bit and shake it off.”
Wimbledon increased its security in conjunction with London police and other agencies for this year’s tournament, in part due to protests at other major sporting venues across Britain this year.
Due to the rain, there was already a big backlog of games after the first two days, and only eight games were played on Tuesday. A number of games that were scheduled on the outdoor courts on Wednesday have been postponed to Thursday.
Only Center Court and No. 1 Court of the All England Club have roofs.
On the Center Court on Wednesday, Swiatek entered the third round with ease with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo, hitting 27 winners compared to just three for her opponent. It was Djokovic’s turn to beat Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6(4), 7-5 to become the third player in history to reach 350 Grand Slam wins – along with Roger Federer and Serena Williams .
Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas needed to win a fifth-set tiebreak to pass former US Open champion Dominic Thiem to defeat the Austrian 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-7 (5 ), 7-6 (10-8) in a match that was halted overnight in the second set. Tsitsipas will face two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in the second round.
At number 1, third-seeded Daniil Medvedev defeated British 20-year-old Arthur Fery 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.
The American duo of Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe both reached the second round, but in a contrasting way. Ninth-seeded Fritz came from a set down to defeat Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 Court in a match that started Monday, while Tiafoe defeated Yibing Wu in straight sets on court No. 3.
