Serena Williams , the seven-time champion, left the court in tears after aggravating a hamstring injury while Federer's opponent, Adrian Mannarino , retired after one point of the final set after injuring his knee. Neil Stubley, the head groundskeeper at the All England Club, told Wimbledon's radio channel Wednesday that it was the first time the roof had been closed on the first day of the event.
Stubley added that the slightly reduced airflow on the court, when the roof is closed, may have contributed to making conditions slightly more slippery than if the roof was open. Federer said after his first-round match he felt conditions were different when the roof was closed. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down. I do feel it's drier during the day. With the wind and all that stuff, it takes the moist out of the grass.
For the first time in two long years, we have tennis under my watchful gaze. Let's do this For decades, Wimbledon was known for rain as much as for grass-court tennis and strawberries and cream.
The British summer often forced fans to scramble for cover as the grounds staff rushed on to pull the protective covers over the court. In , only half of the matches scheduled for the first week were completed because of bad weather and since World War II, 15 full days have been completely washed out.
After years of procrastinating, Wimbledon relented and a new retractable roof opened to much fanfare, only for it to barely be used in the first few years, including just once in The match between former champion Amelie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina that year was paused due to rain and then finished under the roof. Andy Murray then beat Stan Wawrinka in the first full match under the roof, finishing at a then-record late time of p. Wimbledon did not get much of a return for its money in the opening few years, as the British weather stubbornly refused to play ball.
According to the Wimbledon Compendium, which details a host of weird and wonderful facts from the Championships, the roof was used just once in and not because of rain , twice in , once in and not at all in The Compendium does not keep a full record of every time the roof has been used every year, though it is something the Club says it is looking into for next year. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, known simply as Wimbledon after the championships that are held there every year, is now a sprawling complex of 19 grass tennis courts as well as a number of clay, acrylic and indoor courts , despite being founded as the All England Croquet Club in As the venue slowly developed into the centre of the tennis world, with the grand slam era elevating its status across the globe, constant adaptations over the proceeding century were made to the courts and its surrounding facilities.
However, one of the main thorns in the side of Wimbledon over the years has been something that its vast team of organisers and officials have no control over: the ever unreliable British weather. The last six to 12 months will have been hard, not able to train as hard as he would like but I have no doubt he will do everything in his power to be back.
Doubles player Jamie Murray, whose early exit in Rome allowed him to commit to the opening of the roof, said it was "awesome" and called it "really cool" to be involved in the celebration event. He's doing fine, pain free and much happier. He confirmed he has been playing golf regularly with his brother, saying that was the "main competition".
On whether or not they would ever play together again he said: "we do want to play doubles again together but it depends on situation in both our careers. Watch Live. By Rebecca Taylor, news reporter.
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