The roof over Wimbledon Centre Court
Hoorah – Wimbledon Centre Court has a roof!
In a country where it rains heavily and frequently, it was a huge leap forward when Wimbledon Centre Court was fitted with a roof in 2009. And then, as if by magic, the heavy and frequent rain dried up and Wimbledon was blessed by glorious weather for tennis.
So the roof was not used due to rain during the 2009 and 2010 tournaments (that’s if my memory serves me correctly but please add a comment if said memory has lapsed).
Such is not the case in 2011.
Last night, while the covers were rolled out on all other courts and puddles formed around the grounds, Venus and Kimiko, sheltered by the centre court roof, played on and on and on and on.
Despite heavy rain falling on the rest of the grounds.
Rain so heavy in fact, that it created a drumming noise, which was loud enough to cause distraction, in the background of the TV coverage that I was watching in Melbourne.
Thank you, decision makers responsible for the roof. And thank you in advance for putting a roof on another court in the near future*
*This statement is not verified and is written in a hopeful tone, but after all, gotta keep up with the Aussies, right?
Check out how some peeps amused themselves while waiting out the rain.
Despite sweating & slogging it out, some faves went out early
- Tipsarevic retired against Karlovic (R1) who then lost to Kubot in Round 2
- Fernando Gonzalez (back at last!) d Alexandr Dolgopolov (R1)
- The Isner v Mahut match was over in 9 hours less than when they played in 2010, with Isner winning in 3 (R1)
- Aussie boy Tomic beat 29th seed Davydenko (R1)
- Raonic the Canadian player who I had long odds money on to win the tourney, retired against Muller in Round 2. This means we won’t see the anticipated Raonic v Nadal Round 3 match.
Notable mentions go to:
- Verdasco – despite his best efforts at losing in Round 1 he fought back to beat Stepanek in 5 sets and then lost to Haase in Round 2
- Nalbandian, who loves a long long match, won his first round match in only 3 sets
- Lleyton Hewitt fought well in his Round 2 Centre Court match against Robin Soderling, but lost in 5 sets. Hope he is thinking about a career in tennis commentary for his next move.
For the ladies, am quite sad that we won’t be seeing more of Sam Stosur or Bethanie Mattek-Sands who both lost in Round 1.
Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray have all played comfortably through to Round 3.
Teary Serena is back. Lacy Venus is too.
Serena won her first match on Centre Court and brought herself, along with the crowd, to tears.
As fans, we rely on the media (and Twitter of course!) to keep up with what’s going on with the players. I thought it was great to see Serena’s honest emotion in the post match interview, shown in the vid below. Reminded me how great she is for women’s tennis.
Love or hate her outfits, Venus always gives us something to tweet about.
And this year’s Wimbledon white-lace, gold-zippered, bat-winged jumpsuit is no exception. Even so, somehow I can’t help feeling that she has more “mentionable” outfits yet to come.
If you haven’t seen the jazzy ensemble yet, you’ll get a full view in this match highlights vid.
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal
Photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images