As if the drastic state of British tennis wasn’t bad enough*, the charmingly unflustered protocols of the All England Lawn Tennis Club have come in for some justifiable criticism this week. Like the opening of Parliament or an episode of Miss Marple, Wimbledon has its own slow, deliberate methods, based on an unshakeable certainty that The Way We’ve Always Done Things simply cannot be wrong.
But how wrong they were. Having lost a significant portion of the first week through heavy rain, the club’s only hint of radical thinking was to start the key show-court matches earlier… on Day 6, after several days when clear mornings offered the opportunity to catch up on the growing backlog of matches. Far more damaging, though, is the system for restarting matches after rain breaks. Grass courts require special treatment, so it’s entirely reasonable that the covers go on quickly at the first sign of rain. The problems lie with what happens next.
I was there on the second Monday this year, and several generous patches of dry, sunny weather were completely wasted, because (as I understand it) the AELTC are always waiting for the London Weather Centre to assure them of at least 30 minutes of clear weather. The players are always given fifteen minutes’ notice before the resumption of play and may be given up to five minutes to warm up, which seems perfectly fair, but why aren’t the players given their notice fifteen minutes before the rain ends? Why are there no facilities for them to warm up indoors? If the London Weather Centre can predict the arrival of the next shower to within 30 minutes, why can they not do the same for the end of the current shower?
Oh well, at least they’re installing a retractable roof on Centre Court. In 2009.
*But let’s hear it for Alex Bogdanovic and Melanie South… unseeded British mixed doubles pair, who have already beaten the No.1 seeds and absolutely hammered the No.13 seeds. There is hope!