The Hindu : At Wimbledon, umbrellas are better than a roof

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

At Wimbledon, umbrellas are better than a roof

HALLE (Germany) June 12. Day one at Wimbledon and a huge crowd gathers at the world's most famous tennis tournament. It rains all day. Everyone goes home.

The unpredictable British weather is the bane of players and spectators alike during the Wimbledon fortnight but if the organisers were to follow the example of a small grasscourt tournament in Germany, their problems could be solved.

The Halle Open, which began in 1993, is held in the same week as the Stella Artois championships at London's Queen's Club. It attracted Pete Sampras in 2002 while Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Yevgeny Kafelnikov have also played there.

There are, however, no stoppages here. Why? Because of its retractable roof. The roof at Halle was built in 1994 and it allows play to continue almost immediately when the rain comes down.

Frank Hofen, the Halle Open media director, said the tournament's reputation is largely based on its roof. ``It was necessary for the success because you can guarantee matches for the television schedule.

``Players know there will be matches played, despite the weather. You can't guarantee good weather in this region.''

The show court at the Australian Open in Melbourne has a roof and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, venue for soccer and rugby matches, has one too. The FA Cup final, the peak of the English soccer season, was played under it in May.

There are those who say building a roof over Centre Court at Wimbledon would be close to sacrilege.

Hofen agrees public sentiment could be a problem — but he says one roof would not be enough.

``You have juniors, seniors and veterans' matches at Wimbledon, so you would need four or five to make it succeed.''

Others argue that a roof would not allow the grass to grow properly, depriving it of the light and fresh air it needs.

``The grass does not grow here for most of the year,'' Hofen said. ``It is taken out of the stadium and grown in a free area until just four weeks before the tournament. That's the secret.''

Halle, which took 10 months to build the roof over its centre court, is considering building another over Court One.

``I was surprised when Wimbledon built their new Court One that they didn't put a roof on it. It's much more difficult to build a roof afterwards.

``One day during Wimbledon when rain washed out play, the BBC showed a film of this tournament,'' Hofen laughed. ``So they know about it.'' In 2002, when rain hit the championships, Wimbledon officials admitted for the first time they were `seriously investigating the possibility' of building a roof over Centre Court.

Whether they ever get round to do it, of course, is another matter. Until then, bring your umbrella.— Reuters

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