Wimbledon: Now Court 1 is also weatherproof

For ten years only the Centre Court in Wimbledon had a flexible umbrella. From the next issue on it will be possible to play on Court 1 regardless of weather conditions.

Weather forecasts for London in the coming days? Temperatures around ten degrees, precipitation. At the beginning of July 2019 it will probably be much warmer, but the British capital is never immune to rain showers. In Wimbledon, this will only cause half as many wrinkles of concern in the next edition of the traditional tournament: Court 1 is now finally ready, rather the roof, which should now make the second largest square on Church Road weather-independent.

The Centre Court has been protected by a flexible roof construction since 2009, and three years later the first and so far only men’s final took place under indoor conditions: Roger Federer prevailed against Andy Murray at that time.

Last summer, however, the rules at Wimbledon had caused some discussion: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic not only had to start their semi-final under a closed roof after the marathon match between John Isner and Kevin Anderson, but also had to finish it at 11 pm local time on Friday evening. The continuation, however, had to take place under the same conditions, i.e. not in the open air either. The one that turned out to be blue the following day. Especially Rafael Nadal, who had to admit defeat in five sets, loudly expressed his displeasure about this regulation.