2004 Jan 06 - Wimbledon Centre Court roof confirmed

Yes, it's true! The AELTC have finally announced that our beloved Centre Court will have a retractable roof installed ready for the Wimbledon 2009 championships.

And the good new doesn't stop there because further development plans will see the modest seating capacity of 13,800 increase to 15,000. Work will begin in earnest in 2008 - presumably immediately after the Wimbledon 2008 championships.

This is excellent news for not only those with Centre Court tickets, but for tennis lovers at home who will now be able to call in sick at work knowing they are guaranteed a day of tennis on TV (never happened! - ed)

Of Centre Court, AELTC Chairman Tim Phillips said:

"It is the jewel in our crown, and what we are trying to do is to make it more precious than it already is."

Indeed. We would not want to see day after day of little or no tennis as experienced in the US Open 2003. And lets of course not forget the disastrous rain interruptions at Wimbledon 2001 and 2003 which were factors in Tim Henman's defeats to Goran Ivanisevic and Sebastian Grosjean respectively.