THERE could be play at Wimbledon on its middle Sunday this year for the first time since 2004.
A backlog of matches was becoming more serious yesterday as rain meant there was barely any play by 2pm.
Asked about the prospect of play tomorrow, traditionally a rest day at the tournament, a Wimbledon spokesman said: “I’m sure it is being discussed. It is an evolving situation.”
Play on Centre Court has continued through the week, because of the retractable roof that makes it an all-weather stadium.
But heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday has caused schedulers a major headache that could be relieved by an extra day’s play.
Thursday saw a full day’s action, but yesterday the rain returned.
And despite a decision to move forward the start of play from 11.30am to 11am, intermittent showers meant barely any tennis was seen by mid-afternoon.
The only courts to see a full game completed were Centre Court, where Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro were unaffected, and Court One, where Venus Williams and Darya Kasatkina battled out four games before being forced off.
Andy Murray, on a day off, was forced to abandon his practice session because of the rain.
Fifteen second-round matches remained unresolved, having usually been completed by the end of Thursday.
Wimbledon would only reluctantly announce play for the middle Sunday, which would call for a major logistical effort.
It would mean the prospect of another ‘People’s Sunday’, with tickets for all courts to be available to the public.
Frustrated fans were given something to cheer at 3pm, though, as players returned from the locker rooms to uncovered courts and with a four-hour break from any rain forecast.
The possibility of play on Sunday looked to be diminishing as matches on all courts progressed without further interruption beyond 4.30pm, and with the weather looking set fair for some time to come.
Tournament organisers announced the format for the second round of men’s doubles would be changed from best-of-five-set matches to best-of-three, in a drive to reduce court time, having previously made the same decision for the first round.
A heavy shower hit Wimbledon shortly after 5pm, forcing play to be halted on all courts. Venus Williams was on match point in the third set of her clash against Darya Kasatkina on Court One when play was suspended. A tournament announcer said there would be no play before 6.15pm, except on Centre Court where the roof was closed, allowing Serena Williams and Christine McHale to resume their match.
In 2004, Wednesday and Saturday of the opening week were lost to wet weather, prompting the announcement at 3.30pm on Saturday that matches would be played on Sunday.
That was only the third time in 118 years that play had taken place on the first Sunday of Wimbledon. A total of 28,000 tickets were put on sale on a first come, first served basis. The backlog then was such that of the 376 matches that should have been played by Saturday’s end, only 262 had been completed.
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