Novak Djokovic secured a hard-fought victory in the longest quarterfinal in Wimbledon history, a 5-hour, 15-minute match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, which was punctuated by a dispute over the Centre Court roof. The Serbian player, aged 39, ultimately prevailed with a score of 7-6 (12-10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (10-4).
During the match, Djokovic engaged in a heated argument with tournament supervisor Denise Parnell concerning the closure of the roof. Parnell indicated that evening conditions warranted closing the roof after the second set, but Djokovic expressed a strong preference for keeping it open.
"You don’t want to get to 8.30pm? It’s 7.40pm now. We can play a whole another set outdoors. We’re an outdoor tournament," Djokovic told Parnell. He further questioned the consistency of decisions, referencing a previous match where the roof was not closed until later in the evening. "The other day you didn’t want to close it until 8.30pm. Now you want to close it."
Djokovic dismissed Parnell's apparent reference to Jannik Sinner's match, stating, "With Jannik, I don’t care what happens in his matches. I’m talking about our match right now." He accused the officials of not adhering to rules, saying, "You have no idea what the rule is."
Following the exchange, the official announcement was made to close the roof. Auger-Aliassime, Djokovic's opponent, appeared to concur with Djokovic, asking, "So, for sure we close now?" during the argument.
Despite not getting the third set played outdoors as he had wished, Djokovic went on to win it 6-3. His victory propelled him into the semifinals, making him the oldest man to reach that stage at Wimbledon in over 50 years. The 24-time Grand Slam champion is scheduled to face Jannik Sinner, the defending champion, on Centre Court on Friday.