CBSSports.com: Murray's marathon, roof closing mark historic day at Wimbledon
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England -- Andy Murray received his usual standing ovation, and the new roof at Centre Court got an unusual one. Overhead, under lights, with Britannia ruling and the Williams sisters rolling, this 123rd Wimbledon made history.
When Murray finally defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, it was 10:38 p.m., more than an hour later than any tennis ever had been played at Wimbledon, where people once believed in the civilized idea of holding competition in daylight.
Until Monday, no match had gone beyond 9:35 p.m., which is when a women's doubles match ended in 1981. But now, with the roof and the lights below that roof, it's all changed. Play once started would continue until a winner was determined.
That took 3 hours, 57 minutes. The pubs were getting ready to close.
"It was pretty special," said Murray, who fell to his knees. "I thought Stan played a great match. I'm pretty sure this is the latest finish at Wimbledon."
He's got that right.
"Always when you play indoors, the atmosphere is great," he continued. "When you have 15,000 people cheering for you, it's fantastic."
Long before, Andy Roddick joined Serena and Venus as the U.S. entries in the quarterfinals. Although Roddick's match started at roughly the same time as Murray's, it finished two hours earlier.
If it didn't happen at Wimbledon on the long day's journey into night -- indoor tennis, tennis after dark, Ana Ivanovic injuring her thigh and tearfully pulling out against Venus, Amelie Mauresmo returning to her days of gagging leads, Lleyton Hewitt losing the first two sets and winning the match, the temperature getting up there in Miami territory -- it's probably never going to happen.
At last the roof, which costs 80 million pounds ($146 million), came into play, although truly it wasn't needed. But other than the glorious quest by Murray to become the first Brit in 73 years to win men's singles, the roof has been all anyone has talked or written about.
So as the thermometer climbed almost to 90 and the humidity grew more oppressive, it was a given rain was coming. The first drops fell around 4:35 p.m., and after the tarps -- or, as they're called here, the covers -- were rolled out on Centre Court, the sellout crowd began staring upward.
It didn't matter that it wasn't raining hard enough to delay play on some of the outside courts. The Mauresmo-Dinara Safina match on Centre Court was halted in the second set. Suddenly, the two sides of the translucent roof began moving toward each other. The sellout crowd stood and cheered, as it would later for Murray's comeback.
Radio Wimbledon even gave an account -- dare it be described as play-by-play -- of the roof being employed.
"The roof is moving!" the announcer declared. "It's a privilege to be here on Centre Court at this moment! It's almost shut now! It's agonizingly close to being shut!"
After it was shut and the announcer shut up, at least about the roof, Safina ripped a passing shot for the first point under Wimbledon's temporary dome.
Safina, No. 1 in rankings and seedings, came back from the loss of a first set and being down 3-1 in the third to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The precipitation, slight as it was, had stopped. Would the roof be opened again for Murray's match against Wawrinka?
Not at all, and that choice allowed play to continue into the dead of night, because of the lights, and allowed Murray, the No. 3 seed, to overtake Wawrinka, the player from Switzerland who isn't named Roger Federer.
Just to prove the lunacy of the process, while Murray and Wawrinka went at it indoors, 100 yards away, Roddick was beating Tomas Berdych, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the sunlight falling upon Court 1.
Not that he had any control over the situation, or that it affected him, Roddick was asked whether he thought they pulled the trigger too early on closing the roof. Tournament officials have decreed that, once a shot is hit while the roof is in place, then it stays in place through a match, even if there's no rain.
"Here is what I think about it," Roddick said. "If it's raining, they have a pretty good little weather system forecast thingy down in the magic little office there. ... I say if it is even sprinkling, at the time, and it looks ominous, if you have a roof, use it."
So it was used.
What Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champ, couldn't do after getting thumped by Venus in the first set was use her left leg. In the opening game of the second set, Ana apparently pulled a thigh muscle, began to cry and then retired with Williams winning, 6-1, 1-0.
"I felt like I wasn't given a fair chance to fight," Ivanovic said.
Venus has won 18 straight matches and 31 straight sets at Wimbledon and seeks a third consecutive women's single title and sixth overall here.
The Sister Act still is proving newsworthy -- Serena Williams, on the other side of the draw, was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Daniela Hantuchova.
"I was definitely out there not to stay too long," said Serena. "I'm a Florida girl, so I was totally fine with the heat."
As was Wimbledon with a match after dark.
- - - - - -
http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/story/11906045
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England -- Andy Murray received his usual standing ovation, and the new roof at Centre Court got an unusual one. Overhead, under lights, with Britannia ruling and the Williams sisters rolling, this 123rd Wimbledon made history.
When Murray finally defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, it was 10:38 p.m., more than an hour later than any tennis ever had been played at Wimbledon, where people once believed in the civilized idea of holding competition in daylight.
Until Monday, no match had gone beyond 9:35 p.m., which is when a women's doubles match ended in 1981. But now, with the roof and the lights below that roof, it's all changed. Play once started would continue until a winner was determined.
That took 3 hours, 57 minutes. The pubs were getting ready to close.
"It was pretty special," said Murray, who fell to his knees. "I thought Stan played a great match. I'm pretty sure this is the latest finish at Wimbledon."
He's got that right.
"Always when you play indoors, the atmosphere is great," he continued. "When you have 15,000 people cheering for you, it's fantastic."
Long before, Andy Roddick joined Serena and Venus as the U.S. entries in the quarterfinals. Although Roddick's match started at roughly the same time as Murray's, it finished two hours earlier.
If it didn't happen at Wimbledon on the long day's journey into night -- indoor tennis, tennis after dark, Ana Ivanovic injuring her thigh and tearfully pulling out against Venus, Amelie Mauresmo returning to her days of gagging leads, Lleyton Hewitt losing the first two sets and winning the match, the temperature getting up there in Miami territory -- it's probably never going to happen.
At last the roof, which costs 80 million pounds ($146 million), came into play, although truly it wasn't needed. But other than the glorious quest by Murray to become the first Brit in 73 years to win men's singles, the roof has been all anyone has talked or written about.
So as the thermometer climbed almost to 90 and the humidity grew more oppressive, it was a given rain was coming. The first drops fell around 4:35 p.m., and after the tarps -- or, as they're called here, the covers -- were rolled out on Centre Court, the sellout crowd began staring upward.
It didn't matter that it wasn't raining hard enough to delay play on some of the outside courts. The Mauresmo-Dinara Safina match on Centre Court was halted in the second set. Suddenly, the two sides of the translucent roof began moving toward each other. The sellout crowd stood and cheered, as it would later for Murray's comeback.
Radio Wimbledon even gave an account -- dare it be described as play-by-play -- of the roof being employed.
"The roof is moving!" the announcer declared. "It's a privilege to be here on Centre Court at this moment! It's almost shut now! It's agonizingly close to being shut!"
After it was shut and the announcer shut up, at least about the roof, Safina ripped a passing shot for the first point under Wimbledon's temporary dome.
Safina, No. 1 in rankings and seedings, came back from the loss of a first set and being down 3-1 in the third to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The precipitation, slight as it was, had stopped. Would the roof be opened again for Murray's match against Wawrinka?
Not at all, and that choice allowed play to continue into the dead of night, because of the lights, and allowed Murray, the No. 3 seed, to overtake Wawrinka, the player from Switzerland who isn't named Roger Federer.
Just to prove the lunacy of the process, while Murray and Wawrinka went at it indoors, 100 yards away, Roddick was beating Tomas Berdych, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the sunlight falling upon Court 1.
Not that he had any control over the situation, or that it affected him, Roddick was asked whether he thought they pulled the trigger too early on closing the roof. Tournament officials have decreed that, once a shot is hit while the roof is in place, then it stays in place through a match, even if there's no rain.
"Here is what I think about it," Roddick said. "If it's raining, they have a pretty good little weather system forecast thingy down in the magic little office there. ... I say if it is even sprinkling, at the time, and it looks ominous, if you have a roof, use it."
So it was used.
What Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champ, couldn't do after getting thumped by Venus in the first set was use her left leg. In the opening game of the second set, Ana apparently pulled a thigh muscle, began to cry and then retired with Williams winning, 6-1, 1-0.
"I felt like I wasn't given a fair chance to fight," Ivanovic said.
Venus has won 18 straight matches and 31 straight sets at Wimbledon and seeks a third consecutive women's single title and sixth overall here.
The Sister Act still is proving newsworthy -- Serena Williams, on the other side of the draw, was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Daniela Hantuchova.
"I was definitely out there not to stay too long," said Serena. "I'm a Florida girl, so I was totally fine with the heat."
As was Wimbledon with a match after dark.
- - - - - -
http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/story/11906045
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.