US Open winner lets rip at Wimbledon chiefs for what they did after he beat home favourite

Marin Cilic has fired a broadside at the All England Club after the 2017 finalist bowed out of Wimbledon.The 36-year-old, who knocked out home favourite Jack Draper in the second round, was sent to Court Two for his round-of-16 match with Flavio Cobolli, the No.22 seed.

And in a morning start, the Italian beat Cilic 6-4 6-4 6-7 7-6 to set up a quarter-final showdown with Novak Djokovic. The Croatian admitted 23-year-old Cobolli had played “at a great level”, he was furious at the scheduling of his fourth round match.

Cilic, winner of the 2014 US Open, said: “I feel bitter. Why is there a need to play at 11 o’clock? The practice courts open at 9.30 - this morning, I had to warm up indoors. You wake up at 6am.

“Ok, the earlier rounds start at 11 but this is the last 16. It was raining overnight and the court was quite soft. It was really difficult to play on. You just push the ball in the middle of the court and the ball stays super low. It was just a struggle.”

And with the Italian being a clay court specialist, the conditions appeared to favour Cobolli.

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Indeed, he admitted: “I think it helped me a lot to play on Court Two. I think it is a little bit slower than the other ones (Centre Court and Court One).”

But Cobolli is almost certain to be on Centre Court against 38-year-old Djokovic and said: “I don't want to think about the court. I just want to enjoy the day.

"I don't want to think about the other player. I want to think about myself. I want to have fun on every point I play on this kind of stage.

“This is something I have dreamt of since I was young, since I started to play tennis. I'm really emotional because this is a day that I will never forget, for sure. I am very proud of myself.”

And while he was not enamoured with the scheduling, Cilic was full of praise for his conqueror, saying: “Flavio played at a great level. There were not many things he did wrong. He was doing lots of things very cleanly. He served well and was putting me in a lot of tough positions.

“He played fantastically and it is great for him to be in his first quarter-final.”