A New Era
LONDON
Wimbledon has gone indoors.
Partway through a women's singles match between world No. 1 Dinara Safina and former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo today, rain forced the 141--year-old All-England Club to close the roof over Centre Court for the first time since it was installed and made operational this year.
With the crowd cheering, the two pieces of the retractable, translucent roof started moving together, stopped three times, then finally joined at about 4:45 p.m. London time today. It will take another 20-30 minutes for the stadium to become "acclimatized" again and for play to resume.
Oddly enough, almost as soon as the roof was fully closed, it stopped raining. Once the roof is closed during a match, however, it must stay closed. It's expected British hero Andy Murray will now play his much-anticipated Round of 16 match against Radek Stepanek Stanislaw Wawrinka with the roof closed.
The umpire on whom the sun never sets.
Posted by: Ersin Persley | June 29, 2009 at 03:59 PM
Doesn't take much to make news these days, eh!
Posted by: Robert Swift | June 29, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Why does play have to stop until the roof is closed and wait for the stadium to become "acclimatized"? Games don't stop in the SkyDome. And why does the roof have to stay closed once it's closed?
Posted by: Jabalong | June 29, 2009 at 10:57 PM