Stan Wawrinka could face a daunting week here at Wimbledon where he might have to play five matches in seven days should he make the final, after rain and “Middle Sunday” pushed his third round over from the first week.
Which would explain why the Swiss was grateful he only spent one hour and 27 minutes on court on Monday to dismiss Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and book a spot in the fourth round.
The No5 seed was meant to face Istomin third on Court 1 on Saturday but the third round match got canceled as rain postponed the preceding matches.
The players were unable to play the following day due to the All England Club’s long-standing tradition of no matches on “Middle Sunday” which meant they had to wait until yesterday to faceoff with the winner now having to play again on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“For sure I was disappointed (not to play on Saturday),” said Wawrinka, who takes on Feliciano Lopez in the last 16 today, after the Spaniard beat John Isner in another postponed match on Monday.
“I was expecting them to move matches, move maybe juniors or doubles, to make my match or Isner/López match first on when they start at 5:00 or 6:00pm again when it stopped raining (on Saturday).
“Then you have to accept. You cannot do anything. They do what they want and you just follow.
“First, playing five‑set match – it's never easy. But if you look for this week, me or López, Isner have to play three matches in three days, five‑set match. It's terrible for the body.”
Still Wawrinka can find some solace in his dominating victory yesterday against a player he had lost to here at Wimbledon four years ago.
“I'm not looking ahead to the final, I'm looking about the next match now. I know if I want to get through, it's going to be a really tough week,” said Wawrinka.
The world No3’s coach Magnus Norman said he understood the situation was difficult on the organisers and referees but admits Wawrinka now faces a superhuman task.
“It's a tough situation because if he wants to go through here he has to win five best-of-five-set matches in seven days so it's going to be really hard, and three days in a row,” Norman told the Press Association.
“It's not really human but we're not complaining. We know what we have to do and we'll just try to focus on one point at a time and one match at a time.”
Three-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Lopez came back from a set down to beat ninth-seeded Isner 6-7 (8), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Following the exit of Isner, who struck 80 winners including 52 aces, there are no American men or women through to the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time since 1911.
