Murray Plays Up To Local Curfew

Written by: Staff on 2nd July 2012

Murray Plays Up To Local Curfew |

Andy Murray’s first reaction after moving into the second week of Wimbledon was relief after flirting as closely possible with the 11pm curfew set for the local council for play being staged under the £100 million Centre Court roof. His second was to demand new shorts from adidas after the spare ball slipped from his pocket three times during Saturday’s late-night encounter with Marcos Baghdatis and he was twice punished with lost points

Murray, sponsored by adidas since late 2009 in a £3m-a-year deal, has worn the brand’s Barricade Short since the start of Wimbledon. The no.4 seed was penalized under rules governing hindrance during play and the first time it happened umpire Steve Ullrich ordered they replay the point, but on the latter two occasions the points went to Baghdatis.

An adidas representative put the incidents down to human error, saying the pockets on the hand-finished shorts had been made too shallow. Baghdatis, Fernando Verdasco and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wear the machine-finished Barricade Bermuda shorts, which look almost identical but are longer.

The German sportswear giant investigated the issue before issuing a statement which read: “Adidas works closely with Andy on the design of all his kit and we believe the issues were the result of an individual technical error in the handmade pockets of those shorts. Andy will now wear the Barricade Bermuda short.”

Meantime Murray was also voicing concerns that he might have earned the All England Club a fine for extending his victory until 11.02pm on Saturday when the regulations set by the London Borough of Merton when the roof was first used for play four years ago clearly state play must stop at 11.00am.

Murray began to serve the final game of his a 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-1 at 10.59pm win over Baghdatis and distinctly rushed through the final exchanges. He was fulsome in his praise of umpire Ullrich and referee Andrew Jarrett and said: “They did a good job.

“I don’t know what the rules are. I think that’s maybe the first time it has happened here and I don’t know if the tournament gets a fine. The screen said we can’t play past 11pm. So when I got ahead at 4-1, I tried not to sit down. After breaking Marcos’ serve, I asked and said, ‘Have we got one more game?’ The umpire said yes, so I am glad they let us go a few more minutes.”

Meanwhile spectators began to wait in line on Saturday evening for Murray’s fourth round match against Marin Cilic, scheduled for the roofless Court One. However the weather forecast from the London Weather Center suggested a day of rain in south-west London and as of 10am British Summer Time it was totally accurate.