Taylor Fritz was ready to keep his first-round match rolling at Wimbledon on Monday night — even though his opponent apparently was not.
That’s what the fifth-seeded American suggested in a social media comment after his tournament-opening match against Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was suspended shortly after 10 p.m., despite roughly 45 minutes remaining until the All England Club’s hard 11 p.m. curfew.
When the Glue Guy Sports’ Instagram account posted a video of Fritz and Mpetshi Perricard speaking to tournament officials on the court with the accompanying caption, “Let the boys play!!! They got 45 minutes,” Fritz replied in the comments, “They would’ve let us play if my opponent agreed to, I said I wanted to he didn’t.”
Fritz, 27, dropped the first two sets to the 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (8), before momentum shifted and he won the third and fourth sets, 6-4, 7-6 (8), respectively.
He will next face Canadian Gabriel Diallo in Wednesday’s second round.
The 11 p.m. curfew has been in effect at Wimbledon since 2009, when a new roof was installed on Centre Court with spotlights, according to ESPN, which noted, “An agreement was made between the local officials, tournament organizers and local residents that play would not go on beyond” the 11 o’clock hour.
Tournament organizers elaborated on the curfew in a 2018 statement to The Independent.
“The 11 p.m. curfew is a Planning Condition applied to balance the consideration of the local residents with the scale of an international tennis event that takes place in a residential area,” the statement read.
“The challenge of transport connectivity and getting visitors home safely is also a key consideration.”
Fritz, currently ranked No. 5 in the world, reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2022 and 2024.
The tournament concludes on July 13, and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is the defending champion.