Turmoil at Wimbledon Over Covered Court Assignments

Written by: Staff on 3rd July 2012

Turmoil at Wimbledon Over Covered Court Assignments

epa03292460 A court official tests the condition of the grass on Centre Court following a brief rain delay during the fourth round match between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Xavier Malisse of Belgium for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

The All England Club has been widely ridiculed in today’s British press for the decision to schedule Andy Murray’s fourth round match on cover-less No.1 Court so leaving his schedule to the mercy summer weather while his main rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer cruised dryly into the quarter finals.

Many questions were asked over the use of the Centre Court roof last week when night play as staged four evenings in succession as not a drop of rain fellow on the polyurethane structure. Then when three hours of tennis were available on Monday evening before the 11pm curfew after Djokovic completed his comfortable win over fellow Serb Viktor Troicki, paying spectators were told no further matches would be played.

The fairest option would have been to switch Richard Gasquet’s against Florian Mayer from Court No.3 to Centre and allow it to be concluded to put the victor on the same time scale as all other players in his section of the draw. Gasquet’s coach Riccardo Piatti, insisted on an audience in the Referee’s Office and made his views clear to Andrew Jarrett.

But the national opinion wanted the fourth seed’s match switched, and Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, The Sun struck a tabloid blow by writing: “Andy Murray’s hopes of hot-footing it on to Centre Court today to beat the rain have been dashed by Wimbledon chiefs.

“Bigwigs at SW19 decided NOT to move Murray’s delayed fourth-round match against Marin Cilic from Court One, leaving the frustrated Brit at the mercy of the weather once again.”

The Daily Mail used a play on words to sum up the annoyance and ran a headline: “Murray under a cloud: As big guns rest up, Andy could be Court out again”

The Times wrote: “It would surely have made sense to have allowed them to play to a conclusion, even if it would have meant changing courts, but such is the haphazard nature of the event thus far.”

And even the ultra conservative Daily Telegraph, favored by the majority of All England Club members wrote: “While Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic played on Wimbledon’s Centre on Court, where the roof insulated them from the high risk of rain interruptions, the decision to put Murray on Court No 1 for only the second time in four years left him significantly disadvantaged.”

And Britain’s leading ex players got in the act as well. Greg Rusedski was among those who said Murray should have been allowed to play on Centre Court again. Greg Rusedski tweeted: “A real shame Murray wasn’t on Centre Court, a mistake from organizer. Need to give him every advantage possible.”

A spokesman for the All England Club said: “The day finished as scheduled. The problems associated with moving matches between courts such as the stewarding, and the wish not to play another late night, conspired to say that our best option is to come back tomorrow. It is a traditional daytime, outdoor event. We have had four late nights already. We could go on to five or six. We have to draw the line somewhere and this is it.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, All England Club, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, Viktor Troicki, Wimbledon court 1