Sunday, January 25, 2009

Djokovic calls for end to late night finishes


MELBOURNE: Defending champion Novak Djokovic has called for "compromise" with Australian Open organisers after he was involved in another late night finish.The third seed took the court at 11:10 pm on Sunday against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and did not wrap up until 2:26 am on Monday, with both complaining about the schedule."You have this unique excitement when you play the night matches. It's really fun. You make history by going into the 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning," Djokovic said."But on the other hand I don't think that this really benefits a lot of people that we played that late. Hopefully in the future we can make some compromise."Baghdatis, the popular 2006 finalist, was up until 1:14 am in the previous round and was involved in the tournament's record late finish last year, staying up until 4:34 am for a five-set marathon with Lleyton Hewitt.Djokovic said it was a relief to get off court unscathed -- and relatively early -- despite being pushed to a fourth set by the determined Baghdatis.Both players warmed up and down several times as they waited for Jelena Dokic's three-hour victory over Alisa Kleybanova that preceded their match on Rod Laver Arena.Despite facing a shorter recovery time for his quarter-final with the in-form Andy Roddick, Djokovic was confident he would be ready.Djokovic added that he was getting used to his new racquet after blaming a switch in sponsor for his slow start to the season.Djokovic became Serbia's first Grand Slam champion with last year's win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after beating three-time champion Federer in the semi-finals.

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