Thursday, April 23, 2009
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The new retractable roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court could mean the first matches past twilight for players and fans at the All England Club.
Tournament organizers unveiled the 56,000-square foot folding roof Tuesday and confirmed it will be ready for the June 22-July 5 tournament.
All England Club chairman Tim Phillips said any match started on Centre Court will be played to completion on the same day. But organizers do not intend to follow the U.S. Open and Australian Open in staging night matches.
“Not yet,” Phillips said. “We still intend that it will be a day tournament.”
The new roof and its 118 lights would allow matches to be played past sundown. Last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer finished in near darkness.
Also, matches will be moved from other courts to the covered Centre Court venue if bad weather hits the grass-court tournament.
It will take about 10 minutes for the 10 trusses to slide across and cover Centre Court, then about 30 minutes for the airflow system to reduce moisture.
The Centre Court roof will be tested May 17 at a special exhibition featuring former Wimbledon champions Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf against Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman.
Any brief shower, such as a 15-minute rain interruption, will still result in covers pulled across the grass. A new 4,000-capacity Court No. 2 will open, taking the total ground capacity to 40,000.
The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.