London: Former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych believes his third round match against Marin Cilic on Friday should have been halted when it became so dark that the Hawk-Eye review system stopped functioning.
Berdych, the 2010 finalist and sixth seed, went down to a 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) defeat on Court 3 in a match which ended at 21:40 local time (22:40GMT), the latest finish for a tie on an outside court in the tournament’s history.
But the sophisticated Hawk-Eye technology cannot function when it gets too dark and Berdych fumed over the decision to play on despite the unavailability of the system used by players to challenge calls.
“If I start the match on a court where we don’t have Hawk-Eye, it’s how it is since the beginning. But if somebody tells me that some machine doesn’t work just because of the light, and that we don’t have enough, so why we have to play?” he asked.
“Everybody is saying that the machine is always correct, it’s always the best way and we cannot argue with that.
“We can try to tell to the football guys that after 90 minutes they don’t have the video of the goal line technology because it (lasts just for) 90 minutes.”
Berdych believes he was on the wrong end of a series of calls which, had there been the access to a challenge, would have been over-turned.
The big Czech found some sympathy from defending champion Andy Murray who is in the same half of the draw as Berdych and Cilic.
“I’m not sure exactly what time Hawk-Eye stops. From a player’s perspective, when the light starts to go, it’s tough to play good tennis, to play properly,” said Murray.
“I don’t think you want matches to be decided on someone shanking a ball because they can’t see it.
“You want players to be able to play their best tennis for as long as possible. If it was too dark to see, then they should have stopped.” (AFP)