Djokovic hits out over delay after booking place in quarters

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates during his fourth round match against France's Adrian Mannarino at Wimbledon Championships in London, Britain on July 11, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

The contest was held over after the marathon battle between Rafael Nadal and Gilles Muller concluded late on Monday.

Djokovic was due to follow Nadal on to Court One but the Spaniard's four hours 48 minutes defeat by Muller did not finish till 8.35 local time, which meant the Serb's match could not be completed before dark.

The Serb, who had been stuck waiting for the end of that battle only to be sent home, said it would have been better to have moved his match to the, by then unused, Centre Court.

"I just think it was a wrong decision not to play us last night, because we could have played," Djokovic said.

"I think the last match on the Centre Court was done before 7pm. Having in mind that Centre Court has the roof and lights, we could have played till 11pm.