Fiddling with the roof

11.03 p.m. this time and Murray has just come off Centre Court after another 4 set struggle winning against Cilic just as they were about to take the players off...

Wait a minute. I must have nodded off and started dreaming. Apparently everyone went home at 8 p.m. Why the rush? The roof was closed and the fans were all expectant so what happened? Seems the organisers got cold feet at the prospect of another late night Andy television feast.

If not Andy then why not the Baker or Fish show? One guy a walking medical miracle and the other one more of the same. A chance to see someone who might not get another chance to play on Centre.

Oh well I guess with the roof you can get too much of a good thing and I suppose the organisers felt it needed a break. Goodness knows with all the opening and shutting it's probably a bit like Federer and on its last legs.

Suppose I'll have to wait for a resumption of Andy's match till tomorrow on Centre. And guess what? They've moved del Potro over with Andy no doubt needing to dodge the showers again on Court 1.

And who said men's tennis was getting a little bit predictalbe nowadays? I guess the roof will probably have the last laugh by the end of the week no doubt.

The roof was good at first but it's becoming a bother. Not to me but sure to the players. The 30-40 minutes closing time at pivoted moments of games. If a match was to start at 7pm, the chances are it could to 11pm so why not just close the roof before then? Makes much sense instead of stopping in between the match. Wimbledon is also now a part indoor slam now.

Jewell_Of_East wrote:The roof was good at first but it's becoming a bother. Not to me but sure to the players. The 30-40 minutes closing time at pivoted moments of games. If a match was to start at 7pm, the chances are it could to 11pm so why not just close the roof before then? Makes much sense instead of stopping in between the match. Wimbledon is also now a part indoor slam now.

Can't agree more JOE n the know very well the weather forecast is for rain why not keep the centre court closed, there is no point in all these roofs and stuffs if the play is still interfered with rain and the matches getting postponed to next day.

newballs wrote:Goodness knows with all the opening and shutting it's probably a bit like Federer and on its last legs.

Very good, NB.

If you've got centre court tickets on any of the next few days then you're in for a treat, while Court One fans are gonna have a miserable time.
There could certainly be three men's matches on a roof-covered Centre on any one day - possibly four if they started early enough.
Conversely, Court One fans - expecting to see gtwo men's quarters on Wednesday, may not get to see anything if the weather stays bad.

Having been present on CC yesterday I have a few thoughts.

Firstly there wasn't much grumbling about who we got to see. Even the nice Murray fans we sat next to who had traveled down from Edinborough were happy to watch Federer and Djokovic (For some reason they did appear to be cheering for Mallise and Troiki?) But there was a LOT of bad feeling about the "fiddling with the roof".

Rain was not only expected but could already be felt even at 1.00pm. Most expected the roof to be closed. When Federer and Malisse went off the first time because of rain of course there was expectation that the roof would at last be closed and a sort of disbelief when it wasn't. I think we had about a 50 minute rain delay (maybe more when you add in the extra warm up).

When the players at last came out again there was still rain in the air and everyone knew at some point the forecast was for continuous rain. CC then had another 50 or so minutes stoppage time when the roof was closed. ??

There was more anger and disapointment when we were all asked to leave at 7.55pm. Everyone expected to see another singles match considering the back log of matches. At the very least one of the doubles matches that were featured in the days programme with courts to be arranged could have been put on CC.

All this with no announcements or explanation. It was like being turfed out of a party early and someone flicking off the lights as we left...

laverfan. I notice an uncharacteristic meanness when you talk of either Federer or Nadal.

Use the roof every day. Have a day session from 12 to 5 and a night session from 7 to 11. Separate tickets for each. Problem solved.

Henman Bill wrote:Use the roof every day. Have a day session from 12 to 5 and a night session from 7 to 11. Separate tickets for each. Problem solved.

I think that they realise they've got something which is slowly changing the character of the Championships and they are very edgy about it. They clearly don't want to use the roof unless it's 'necessary' because Wimbledon is an outdoors grass tournament and the more important matches played indoor the more it's character changes. I don't think you'll ever see them doing that.

Personally I'd like to see them put a roof over another Court so that it's not quite such a lottery in the 2nd week as to who gets the substantial advantage.