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We learned a lot Wimbledon The centennial of the club’s fabled center court may have more 20th century sports drama than any arena outside Madison Square Garden.
Tennis, in general, has been reliably sublime, peaking several times. Comments oscillate between ooh-aah Iga and ta-ra, and, damn, here goes Nick. McEnroe has gone from grey to white, and Sue’s face may still be completely split, while smiling at his old joke as he bids farewell to two weeks. Billie Jane has always been an enduring queen. And the weather…not bad.
But the air, as heavy as ever, is about to be an inconvenience, especially as the long days draw to a close, the clouds gather, the rain is pattering, the lights on center court are starting to shine, and the 56,000-square-foot fabric forms the largest umbrella in town in one place. Rumbling on the sacred turf that housed the anarchy undiscovered by Susannah Lundgren a hundred years ago. The French iconoclast will have a lot to say about the French Federation roofing the eponymous stadium at Roland Garros – and will consider it blasphemous at Wimbledon.
The roof is a mechanical marvel, of course, the material chosen “for its ability to bend and fold over and over without cracking” – at the end of the first week, it sounded like the All England Club was trying to turn the outdoor carnival into a Apologize for strawberries and photos to put in the invitations for a quiet end to the night in the marquee before your parents get home.
However, there was no apology from the club’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, on Monday. While Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have sparked complaints about games being secretly turned into night matches, Bolton sees it as an inevitable compromise.
Of course, with so many competitions juggling, it’s always tricky to seek a big stage among the main contenders and meet local and international TV demands.
“The reality of running a tennis event is that once you start your day, you don’t know when it’s going to end,” she noted. very fair.
“There are long and short races,” she added, “so it’s very unpredictable. We’ve seen some races postponed this year. We’ll take that into account during the scheduling process, but we’re definitely not moving to night races. , I certainly don’t want players to play late – but of course in other majors, they play late at night.”
However, over time and circumstances, this sense of powerlessness undermined her logic. While the All England Club may say they don’t want a night tournament, that’s exactly what they have – just like they did in Melbourne, Flushing Meadows and the French Open. Except those pros didn’t apologize for it.
Wimbledon clings to a glorious past while trying to adapt to an often difficult present.
unforgettable 2008 final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal It’s the last time before the roof goes up. The rain made sure it started at 2.35pm, more than half an hour late. Two heavy rains interrupted the almost unbearable drama and at 9.15pm the Spaniard ended an epic final in near darkness in Spaniard’s favour, almost ruined by factors beyond his control Lost.
So the roof, which has been under construction since 2006, was greeted with slight curiosity by traditionalists and the rest of us and a smile from the All England Club when it first came into service on Monday 29 June 2009 at 4.40pm , in the fourth round Amélie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina.
It is widely regarded as a necessary and forward-looking innovation. However, that game was over quickly and did not inconvenience the locals. It seems Wimbledon (always more adventurous than the club’s image suggests) has staged another coup.
It was only when Murray (who later hired Mauresmo as his coach) and Stan Wawrinka finished their fourth round under cover at 10:38 p.m. — just ahead of Djokovic in the fourth round. The round win over Tim van Rietoven came minutes later than expected on Sunday night — and some of us wondered: will this become the norm?
The following year, when those concerns intensified Djokovic vs Olivier Rocks Ends 10:58pm – Merton City Council confirms 11pm curfew. It seems that the fun has disappeared from the new toys.
Since then, the roof has been a useful backup and a lurking villain, a reason to question the needs of the modern sports entertainment business. To be sure, the BBC will be thrilled when they hear the whirring of the motor overhead.
However, despite the obvious usefulness of the roof, it was never really loved. That electric bike is parked next to the old car in the garage: for function, not entertainment.
Wimbledon was supposed to be played in fresh air, with a hint or even a ray of sunshine. While we live in a climate more suitable for swamp snorkeling, many of us are not happy to bury memories of great tennis above the glowing firmament—however fleeting and unreliable those memories may be.
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