Wimbledon Centre Court - A victim of commercial reasons?

Come this June and the Wimbledon centre court this time around will not look the same as it did from 1868. The centre-court, this year onwards will boast the retractable roof to be used during rains and there wouldn’t be any breaks for players and the audience from the famous Wimbledon intermittent rains.


This is both good and bad for the game. Good because it helps all commercial aspects as it will be a boon for spectators, players, broadcasters and officials. But it will put an end to impromptu performances by Sir Cliff Richard, and won't do anything for umbrella salesmen and exhibitionists. There wouldn’t be a sight of colorful umbrellas opening up in the stands anymore. Introduction of roof will certainly see a big shake up in the scheduling of matches in the 138 year old tournament.

It is bad because I feel for the past champions. Champions who not only had to put up grueling fights against their tough opponents, they also had to fight the weather gods which they were never trained for by any of their coaches during their careers.

For instance, Ivan Lendl was not fated to lose all the finals at Wimbledon because of his game. Who can forget that final he played against Boris Becker in 1986? Lendl was much ahead of Becker when strong winds and rain broke the momentum. Boris Becker too struggled with the winds but took that break to his advantage, thought carefully and came back mentally stronger than Lendl to win one of his greatest matches of all time to seal the victory. Lendl was a victim of factors that were not in his control nor that he was trained to combat. Had he was playing under the roof that night, he would have certainly won the grand slam that has haunted him till date and would have boasted the silverware in his collection.

Roger Federer too struggled with the strong winds and intermittent rain intervals against Rafael Nadal last year. He not only had to deal with a player of immense mental toughness and agility, he had to bear the challenges from Mother Nature and ended up losing against everything and proved to the whole world that night that big boys do cry.

I will always hold players who have won Wimbledon crown without the roof at high esteem and in my list Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Jimmy Conners, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Andre Aggassi and Roger Federer will always remain as true champions who not only beat their opponents to win their coveted Wimbledon trophies but also defeated the weather that challenged them during every match that they fought on centre court.

An amazing 138 year old Wimbledon history is going to change this year with Wimbledon becoming another victim to commercial reasons.

The address might remain as SW19 as always but the glory of the park won’t be the same anymore.