London: Defending champion Andy Murray added his voice to the growing list of players unhappy at the state of Wimbledon’s grass courts, even claiming the hallowed Centre Court has developed divots.
World No. 1 Murray said the courts were not in as good a condition as they have been in the past.
Other players have criticised the state of Court 18 with France’s Kristina Mladenovic claiming that a hole had appeared in the surface.
Weeks of hot weather and little rain have left many surfaces stripped of grass after just five days of the two-week long tournament.
“The court I don’t think is in as good of condition as previous years,” said Murray after beating Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Centre Court on Friday to reach the last-16 for a 10th straight year.
“There’s quite a few spots on the court, like just behind the baseline and just in front of the baseline, where there’s quite big lumps of grass, sort of almost like little divots there, which I don’t remember really being the case.”
Fognini agreed, saying the court “was really bad”.
Earlier on Friday, Wimbledon officials dismissed concerns over the state of the courts.
“The court preparation has been to exactly the same meticulous standard as in previous years,” said the All England Club.
“Grass is a natural surface and it is usual for the baselines to start to be showing signs of wear and tear four days into the championships.”
In a tetchy Centre Court clash, Murray complained about Fognini taking too long between points as the 28th seed, who was given a point penalty for a visible obscenity, shrugged off a mid-match injury to push the Scot to the brink.
Murray had to save five set points to avoid being forced into a deciding set, reeling off five successive games to secure his 105th win on grass and remain on course for a titanic semi-final showdown against Rafael Nadal.
The 30-year-old, who faces France’s Benoit Paire for a place in the quarter-finals, is bidding to become the first Briton to successfully defend a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry at Wimbledon from 1934-1936.
Having won his 10th French Open crown without dropping a set last month, Nadal has made the switch from clay to grass with ease.
His 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win against Russian 30th seed Karen Khachanov equalled the Spaniard’s personal record of 28 successive sets won at Grand Slams, a blistering streak dating back to this year’s Australian Open final.
Nadal’s second and most recent Wimbledon title came in 2010 and the 15-time major winner hasn’t been past the fourth round for six years.
But world No. 2 Nadal is in formidable form heading into only his second fourth round tie in his last five visits to Wimbledon.
His opponent is 16th seed Gilles Muller, who defeated Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 6-4 to reach the last 16 for the first time at the age of 34.
“I played fantastic for a set and a half but it got tougher after that. He started to hit stronger so I was happy to get through in three sets,” Nadal said.
