HIJIKATA LEFT BEMUSED BY 'BIZARRE' DECISION TO PLAY IN THE DARK

Ben Shelton speaking to the Wimbledon supervisor. (Getty)

Australian Rinky Hijikata has questioned the decision-making that saw him and Ben Shelton forced to play into the darkness during their second-round clash at Wimbledon, describing the whole situation as “a little bit bizarre”.

The pair's match carried late into Thursday evening in London, where Shelton led two sets to love, nearing 9pm local time, and yet the match continued despite fading light.

“We both said to the umpire, you know, I don't think we're going to finish this set, I think we should stop now and come back at the beginning of the set the next day,” Hijikata explained.

“I don't know what the reasoning was, but they told us to keep playing, and by 3-1 or 4-2, it was already dark. And then we're playing in the dark for like 10, 15 minutes,” he added.

Hijikata revealed that disappearing light and the Shelton serve weren’t the only problems, with the court surface also becoming unsafe late into the match.

“It was slippery also, and I asked the umpire in the third set to come check the court, and he said it was fine,” Hijikata shared.

“I said, mate, I think it's slippery, and Ben agreed…the back was a little bit slippery and [the chair umpire] said, ‘it's the same for both of you’, which is the case, but also means maybe not safe for both of us.

“It's still a level playing field, but it might not be a safe one."

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Eventually, play was halted at the most inconvenient time, with Shelton leading 5-4 in the third set after failing to convert one of three match points at 5-3, 0-40.

The decision was of much frustration to Shelton, who clearly wanted to play on (by that point), and later told the media the reasoning.

“There was a five-minute warning until Hawkeye was going down, and that was including the changeover. So, there wouldn’t be enough time to complete the game. I told him ‘I only need 60 seconds’,” the confident 22-year-old shared.

On Thursday morning, after a five-minute warmup, the American lived up to his word and fired down four huge serves to seal victory in just 70 seconds.

“I don't think in any way that it changed the outcome of the match,” Hijikata assured.

“Like, I want to make that clear, because I think Ben played bloody well and was a bit too good for me.”

The topic has been much debated this year at the Championships, as in years past, but Wimbledon remains firm on its curfew ruling of 11pm, and a subjective decision as to when play on the outside courts will be stopped for each respective match.

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