Retractable Roof
The retractable roof, installed in 2009, takes up to 10 minutes to close, during which time play shall be suspended. However the time to transfer from outside to inside play can be up to 45 minutes while the air-conditioning system acclimatizes the nearly 15,000-seat stadium for indoor-grass competition.
The tournament rules for the Wimbledon fortnight dictate the roof must remain closed until the end of the match, so some matches may be completed indoors, even though the sun has re-emerged.
The roof was closed for the first time during a competitive Championships match at about 4:40 pm on Monday 29 June 2009, during the fourth round Ladies Singles match between Amélie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina.
The first full match to be played with the roof closed was a men's singles fourth round match between British player Andy Murray and Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. Play on centre court had never gone past 9.17 pm, but with the roof closed and the floodlights on, the match was able to be completed after dark – at 10.38 pm. Merton Council's environmental chief David Simpson said after Murray's late night win that late night tennis would not cause any problems. However, when the record late finish was surpassed in 2010 during a match between Novak Djokovic and Olivier Rochus which ran until 10.58 pm it was reported that Merton council had imposed a curfew of 11 pm BST on Centre Court. This was then exceeded on Saturday 30 June 2012, when Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis in their 3rd round match, which was completed at 11.02pm, in spite of the 11.00pm ruling.
The roof was mobilised by SCX Special Projects Ltd, who also undertake all the planned preventative maintenance.
On Sunday 8 July 2012, Andy Murray and Roger Federer contested the first Wimbledon final to be played partially under a roof.
Read more about this topic: Centre Court
Famous quotes containing the word roof:
“I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.”
—George Borrow (1803–1881)