During his quarter-final match against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the 2026 Wimbledon Tournament, tennis star Novak Djokovic engaged in a heated exchange with Wimbledon official Denise Parnell. Parnell informed Djokovic before the third set that the roof would be closed at 7:40 p.m., a decision that left Djokovic visibly confused and upset. Djokovic questioned the timing, stating, “You don’t want to get to 8:30? It’s 7:40 now. We can play a whole other set outdoors.”

Djokovic’s frustration stems from previous experiences with roof closures at Wimbledon. In a first-round match against Yibing Wu earlier in the tournament, where the roof was closed after the second round, Djokovic remarked, “It felt like we played two different matches: without the roof on and obviously with the roof closed.” He also raised concerns during the 2024 Wimbledon Tournament about roof closures making the courts “more slippery.”

The dispute highlights ongoing tensions regarding roof closure policies at Wimbledon, with Djokovic referencing past instances such as a third-round Australian Open match where roof closure was used to mitigate heat exhaustion.

Sources