Novak Djokovic survives five-hour marathon and roof row to reach Wimbledon semis

Novak Djokovic had a furious row with tournament referee Denise Parnell as he battled through the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history.

The 39-year-old had to go the distance in a deciding-set tie-break to beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and book a semi-final showdown with defending champion Jannik Sinner.

His 7-6 (10) 3-6 6-3 6-7 (4) 7-6 (10-4) victory took an exhausting five hours and 15 minutes, finishing just six minutes before Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew.

The flashpoint came when Djokovic, bidding for an eighth Wimbledon title, had just been pegged back to one set all, at 7.40pm, and Parnell came down to inform the players that the roof on Centre Court would be closed.

Djokovic argued they could easily fit in another set in daylight, and angrily said: “You are so proud of your rules and you’re not sticking to any kind of rule. We have no idea what the rule is.”

The Serbian, who had overcome an injury scare to take the first set, was probably mindful that Auger-Aliassime, 14 years his junior, is a renowned indoor player.

He argued that in his first-round match against Wu Yibing the roof was not closed until almost 8.30pm.

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“The other day you didn’t want to close it till like, 8.20, 8.30, and now you want to close it? It’s 7.40,” he said. “We can play a whole other set outdoors. We’re an outdoor tournament.”

Parnell explained that she did not want a repeat of Sinner’s fourth-round match against Shintaro Mochizuki, when the roof had to be closed in the middle of a set because it got too dark.

Djokovic responded: “With Jannik, I don’t care what happens. I care about our match right now!”

Yet a 14-minute hold of serve from Auger-Aliassime in the