By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) - Never again will Wimbledon stage a men's final such as last year's rain-soaked epic in which Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer's five-year reign as dusk fell over southwest London.
The contest which finished in near-darkness thanks to two rain breaks will be consigned to Wimbledon folklore as the All England Club prepares to unveil its newest innovation when the grasscourt grand slam begins on Monday -- a translucent retractable roof over Center Court.
The showers and fading light added extra drama to the five-set thriller won by Nadal 12 months ago but such episodes are usually an unwelcome sight for weather-weary Wimbledon fans.
Never again, promise organisers, will Center Court ticket holders go away from the championships disappointed that they did not catch any tennis because the British rain gods decided to play spoilsport.
"People have a life time ambition to get a seat ticket here on Center Court and I always feel terribly sorry for them when it rains and they miss it," All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie told Reuters in an interview.
"Previously if you came, for example, from the States and you only had a ticket for one or two days, there was always in the back of your mind the possibility that it was going rain. You could come all the way over and not see anything."
While the roof will keep 15,000 visitors to southwest London happy on a daily basis, the other beneficiaries will be the millions of global television viewers who will be guaranteed live action from Wimbledon almost everyday come rain or shine.
To do that Wimbledon has erected a 1,000-tonne concertina structure over Center Court which unfurls at 20 centimetres a second. The two sections of the translucent roof take about seven to nine minutes to lock together and turn the most famous tennis stage in the world into an indoor arena, complete with bright floodlights.
TRADITIONS MAINTAINED
The addition of lighting means matches will be played to the finish and not suspended overnight.
"All the players are excited to see how it's going to really work especially with the lighting as well and having 15,000 people in a stadium," said Federer.
"We appreciate it very much that Wimbledon has gone forward by mixing innovation and tradition."
Some critics have suggested that building a roof over such an iconic structure goes against the belief of a tournament which prides itself for upholding age-old traditions, such as implementing a predominantly white dress rule on competitors.
Ritchie disagreed.
"I don't think that will intervene with the tradition at all. Any time you change anything, you can say that's a break with tradition," said Ritchie. Continued...
Source: Reuters
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