Britain’s Arthur Fery was unable to complete his second-round match at Wimbledon because of bad light, having lost the first two sets in his clash with Luciano Darderi of Italy
Arthur Fery will have to finish his second-round clash with Luciano Darderi on Thursday after Wimbledon chiefs made the ‘surprising’ decision to suspend Wednesday’s match. British star Fery was trailing 4-6, 3-6 when the match supervisor forebodingly walked onto the court.
Darderi, 23, had just won the second set but the players were told that they’d be unable to start the third due to bad light. Fery and his Italian opponent will now reconvene on Thursday afternoon, with the Brit needing to mount a huge fightback to reach Friday’s third round.
BBC commentators Matt Chilton and Dom Inglot were both shocked at how early Wimbledon’s officials made the decision. Play was halted at 8:45pm yet matches have been played until roughly 9:15pm on previous nights.
“There is a collective groan around the ground now,” Chilton said. “That is a little surprising that at quarter to nine, play is suspended.”
British former player 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.”
READ MORE: Emma Raducanu’s cruel slice of bad luck as shock Wimbledon exits continueREAD MORE: Carlos Alcaraz shows true colours after breaking heart of British underdog at Wimbledon
Chilton followed up by saying: “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.”
Inglot also bemoaned: “The fans will definitely be disappointed because that was a real treat. Great level of tennis from both players, it’s a shame it had to end so soon.”
Fery, who’s ranked 481st in the world, beat No.20 seed Alexei Popyrin in the first round on Monday, having never won a tour-level match prior to this year’s Wimbledon. “It’s going to help my ranking, for sure,” Fery beamed post-match.
“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.”
Who’ll win the men’s singles at Wimbledon? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
Meanwhile on Court One on Wednesday, the roof had to be closed so that the USA’s Taylor Fritz could continue facing Gabriel Diallo of Canada. They were given time for a four-minute warm-up before play resumed, with Fritz having just won a third-set tiebreak to take control of the match.
Fritz’s first-round match on Monday was paused after four sets 40 minutes before the curfew time, with the circumstances of the decision leaving the American puzzled. Although Fritz came back to win the fifth set against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday, he was bemused as to why the match supervisor had asked him for his opinion on the decision.
“He just wanted me to agree with him [about stopping for the night],” Fritz explained. “I said, ‘I don’t know why you keep asking me because I want to play. Stop asking me because you already said we’re not playing’.
“I think it would have been easy for me to get frustrated about not being able to play last night. To be honest, I felt confident going into the fifth set whether it was last night or today.”
