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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Club defends playing 'indoor' for Murray thriller
Source: Agencies |
July 1, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE All England Club defended the use of the Centre Court roof for Andy Murray's thrilling victory over Stanislas Wawrinka after the third seed had been less than complimentary about conditions under the new canopy.
Murray, who became the first player to win a complete match played in the enclosed arena, came off court after his epic five-set win over the Swiss saying conditions were humid and too little notice had been given to the players about the roof being closed.
"It's just tough as a player when you're kind of warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it's dry, and then obviously you get told you're playing under the roof," the Scot said after his 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over the 19th seed.
"I think the decision, in my opinion, should be made sort of before that (preceding) match is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they're going to be playing under."
First time
The roof was closed for the first time during competition for the preceding women's singles match between top seed Dinara Safina and former champion Amelie Mauresmo, and officials decided to keep the roof closed with a 70 percent chance of thunderstorms predicted.
The adverse weather never arrived but Murray and Wawrinka treated a capacity 15,000 crowd, and 12.6 million British television viewers, to a scintillating spectacle that brought the tournament to life.
Murray also said he felt he had 'been in a bath' such were the heavy conditions.
But All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie said both players had been fully briefed about the plan to use the roof.
"There was a communication between the locker room and the referees office where even before we'd made the decision, we said to Andy's team the likelihood was the roof was going to stay closed," Ritchie told the BBC.
"The key thing looked at overall is that the alternative was Andy coming back and playing today. I'm sure he's in a much better situation having finished the match and having a day off.
"In our opinion the roof worked extremely well. There was as much communication and knowledge in advance as we had."
Murray, who became the first player to win a complete match played in the enclosed arena, came off court after his epic five-set win over the Swiss saying conditions were humid and too little notice had been given to the players about the roof being closed.
"It's just tough as a player when you're kind of warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it's dry, and then obviously you get told you're playing under the roof," the Scot said after his 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over the 19th seed.
"I think the decision, in my opinion, should be made sort of before that (preceding) match is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they're going to be playing under."
First time
The roof was closed for the first time during competition for the preceding women's singles match between top seed Dinara Safina and former champion Amelie Mauresmo, and officials decided to keep the roof closed with a 70 percent chance of thunderstorms predicted.
The adverse weather never arrived but Murray and Wawrinka treated a capacity 15,000 crowd, and 12.6 million British television viewers, to a scintillating spectacle that brought the tournament to life.
Murray also said he felt he had 'been in a bath' such were the heavy conditions.
But All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie said both players had been fully briefed about the plan to use the roof.
"There was a communication between the locker room and the referees office where even before we'd made the decision, we said to Andy's team the likelihood was the roof was going to stay closed," Ritchie told the BBC.
"The key thing looked at overall is that the alternative was Andy coming back and playing today. I'm sure he's in a much better situation having finished the match and having a day off.
"In our opinion the roof worked extremely well. There was as much communication and knowledge in advance as we had."
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