Talk turns to roof as rain falls

Tennis: Wimbledon Championships Yesterday, we witnessed the British public at their restrained best as they put on the stoic face and assumed that unshakable old war mentality.

They arrived, about 35,000 of them, to watch tennis and at 1.44pm, some half an hour after the championship began, it rained. It kept raining on and off for the next five hours as fronts swept across London wiping out almost all of the first day's play. They smiled through it all and, like caged animals, continued to thump out a trail around the stadium courts.

There was no Cliff Richard to add, depending on your musical tastes, terror or pleasure to the 14,000 in Centre Court and in the end the most patient were rewarded only with the carefully chosen apologies over the public announcement system. In one delicately phrased bulletin the public were informed that the clouds sweeping over London were, incomprehensibly, only dumping their cargo over Wimbledon while the city remained dry. Cold comfort for the faithful.

Yesterday's festival of water was only the ninth time in history that more than two hours play was lost to inclement weather on the opening day of the championships, the most recent in 2004 when the tournament was also extended into the middle Sunday, traditionally a day of rest.

Had not Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and a number of other first-up matches gotten under way before the rain, yesterday would have been added to the other three post-war opening days - 1949, 1987 and 1991 - that were completely washed out. Inevitably the discussion around the unhappy camp turned to the roof over Centre Court, for which work is due to begin later this year.

A translucent structure has already been designed to allow natural light to reach the grass and at 16 metres above the playing surface, even the highest of lobs should not be impeded, although not impetuously hit balls. When finished, it will close over in about 10 minutes.

However, officials intend to use traditional court covers to protect the grass while the roof slips into place, so even after it has been closed, play will not resume for up to half an hour. And it is only Centre Court that is getting a roof, so play on all other courts will still be affected by bad weather. With 650 matches played during every championship, there will still be a chance that Wimbledon could overrun into a third week.

The roof is primarily a safety net, not for punters but for the television companies that provide the bulk of Wimbledon's revenue. When it is complete in 2009 they will be able to broadcast almost unbroken coverage of play on every day throughout the fortnight, rather than having to rely on replays to fill long gaps in play.

The All England Club also has to be seen to be moving with the times. The Australian Open has a covered surface and organisers at Roland Garros are also considering installing a roof, although Paris never has the same weather problems that they do in London.

From what little we did see Federer looked every bit the thoroughbred against the unfortunate Richard Gasquet. A talented young Frenchman, Gasquet was ruthlessly kept out of the first set, Federer running up a 3-0 lead in just eight minutes before taking the set 6-3 in 35 minutes.

Kim Clijsters led Vera Zvonereva 5-4 in the women's singles while Martina Hingis's second career was also moving along quite well as she swept aside 18-year-old Ukrainian Olga Savchuk 6-2 in the first set. Any hopes of play were finally abandoned at 7.20pm.