What do we have to do – send in Cliff Richard?

Written by: Staff on 5th September 2012

What do we have to do – send in Cliff Richard? |

America – land of the free, land of opportunity. Well… there’s a 50 week opportunity to get a roof over Arthur Ashe, so what’s the deal? The US Open, held at flooded meadows is almost always affected by rain. Poor Andy Roddick is trying to retire for goodness sake!

Wimbledon is supposed to be the stuffy elderly statesman of the slam circuit, the French is held in May/June and rarely affected, and it hasn’t rained in Australia since it was built from scratch by British engineers as a prison colony in 1700-and-something. Yet it’s Wimbledon which has embraced cutting edge technology (Well – some plastic, wheels and a switch) and no longer is at the mercy of the weather. I would’ve thought that the US Open would be played upside-down using laser balls and mirrored rackets before Wimbledon would’ve had a roof – that just goes to show you how strange I am – but the very fact that the USTA is behind a place that is basically made from teak, leather and brass is quite amazing.

The US Open organisers won’t even put out rain covers for the courts. Apparently they look unsightly (How ‘Wimbledon is that??) and can lead to the courts cracking if used for too long. So instead we’re treated to the sight of squeegee teams leaping into action to dry the courts. Well, they can do that when it stops raining.

Of course at Wimbledon, the rain delays became something of a feature – until Sir Cliff Richards performed an impromptu concert during a rainy spell and forced the AELTC to fork out a reputed £80million to stop that ever happening again.

I know times are tight at the moment, but come on guys – stick a roof on it. We’ve got Cliff on standby, and we’re not afraid to use him.

Topics: American tenni snews, Andy Roddick, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Cliff Richards, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open 2012, Usta