It's The End of an Era at Wimbledon

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Yesterday, as players got ready for the fourth round on Wimbledon's Centre Court, a few raindrops were felt and heavy storm clouds hovered nearby. And, when Andy Murray, Britain's latest great hope in the world famous tennis championship, stepped up to face Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka it was already nearly 7 p.m.

In the past, two things could have been guaranteed about this scenario - the match would have been interrupted by rain or called for bad lighting conditions. Instead, Wimbledon's new, multi- million pound, retractable roof was pulled over Centre Court and play continued well into the night.

It was a day for several firsts:

the first points played indoors at Wimbledon since the tournament's founding in 1877
the first full match played under Wimbledon's new roof
the latest match - ending at 10:39 - ever played at Wimbledon.
and probably the first time lots of people watched Wimbledon tennis in bed.

Oh, and Murray won his marathon, 5-set match, putting him into the quarter finals.

It's too late now to snap up one of the last minute Centre Court and Court 1 tickets. But, believe it or not, if you're still keen to soak up some of the Wimbledon vibe on Murrayfield, you can camp and queue for one of the 6,000 general admission grounds tickets available every day.

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