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Day one of Wimbledon saw two matches suspended for the local 11pm curfew - Alexander Zverev vs Arthur Rinderknech on Centre Court, and Taylor Fritz vs Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Both matches were started under the roof so the floodlights could be used as darkness approached. But when they return on Tuesday to complete play, the roofs will be open as part of protocol.

That wasn't the case for Rafael Nadal back in 2018 as his semi-final contest with Novak Djokovic was also halted by the curfew. When they returned on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the roof had to stay shut in order to maintain the conditions the match started in, and the Spaniard wasn't happy. He went on to lose in five sets.

Djokovic thrives in indoor conditions, so it's no surprise the 24-time Major winner was happy to play under the Centre Court roof while Nadal tried to fight to have it opened.

After suffering a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 10-8 defeat, the now-retired 39-year-old said: "It's an outdoor tournament. Okay, we start indoors. What I don't understand is, today, we could have started outdoors.

"Today we continued undercover because we started undercover. I don't think it's right. It's an outdoor tournament."

Djokovic, who went on to win the 2018 Championships and now has seven Wimbledon titles under his belt, claimed he was told the roof had to remain shut by the supervisor, though he was happy to oblige.

"The tournament organisers and referees said that the roof has to be closed because we started the match with the roof closed. They told us we had to play under the roof. I was for the roof because we started to play under it. I wanted to play in the same conditions," he said at the time.

Both players were involved in consultations with referees and supervisors for their 2018 semi-final.

And the controversy prompted a rule change the following year, according to the Metro. As of 2019, any match suspended at 11pm will be played with the roof open the following day, unless it is raining. There will be no consultations with players.

It means Zverev and Rinderknech will play outdoors second on Centre Court on Tuesday, while Court 1 will also have its roof open for the final set of Fritz vs Mpetshi Perricard.

No. 3 seed Zverev managed to level the score at one set all shortly before 11pm on Centre, and play was suspended at 6-7(3) 7-6(8).

But there was drama on Court 1 when Fritz stormed back to force a fifth and final set around 10.15pm, and play was suspended even though they could have continued for 45 minutes.

After losing the first two sets to 6ft 8" French star Mpetshi Perricard, Fritz won the next two and fought back from 1-5 down in the fourth set tiebreak to draw level at 6-7(6) 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(6).

The supervisor then took to the court to discuss the impending time limit with both players, and it was halted at around 10.15pm. Fritz seemed keen to continue until the 11pm cut-off, but his pleas went unanswered.

In an Instagram comment, he later claimed: "They would've let us play if my opponent agreed to, I said I wanted to he didn't."

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