Inseparable from water, Wimbledon is trying to deal with the blessed element and, at the same time, tennis’s historical enemy these days. The weather forecast matters little: at the end of the day, whatever time it is, it rains. In abundance. So patience and good will are the order of the day. Serbian Novak Djokovic knows this well, who on Sunday was pushing like everyone else, together with the club’s employees, the tarpaulin that protected one of the training courts. “It is what it is, this is how this tournament is, so you have to accept it,” said Paula Badosa, resigned, ousted by Donna Vekic. That day, the Spaniard arrived at the club early in the morning and despite her match being scheduled for eleven, she finished competing at seven thirty in the evening. More of the same for the American Tommy Paul and Roberto Bautista.
The duel between the two on Court 2 (without a roof) was supposed to start after the Catalan and Croatian matches, so they started at eight o’clock. “I had to go to the locker room and we spent three hours there playing golf,” said the American, who will be Carlos Alcaraz’s rival in the quarter-finals this Tuesday (around 4:00 p.m., Movistar+). The Murcian, however, has not suffered directly from the ravages of delays or cancellations, with up to 40 matches on the outside courts last Friday and 79 between that day and Sunday. He has competed every day on Centre Court or Court 1, both with retractable roofs, but, in any case, he must adapt to the conditions caused by the water and the resulting humidity. Officially classified as a tournament outdoor (outdoors), this Wimbledon is decided inside a capsule.
This is not a new circumstance. Once again, slips and scares. Alexander Zverev suffered a significant one on Saturday, when he went for a ball at the net, losing control of his left leg when he was making the support and fell onto the green of the centre court. The following day, the German – already eliminated by Taylor Fritz (4-6, 6-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(3) and 6-3) – competed with a protective knee pad, very similar to the one worn by Djokovic (6-3, 6-4 and 6-2 over Holger Rune). However, those tennis players who compete on the outside courts are the ones who must adopt an extra precaution, since the surface of the grass is more affected, even if the operators anticipate and act before the clouds come down. Inevitably, the intense rains are marking a tournament that was soaked by water; the players, the fans and the organisation suffer.
Outside the club, the very long queue that forms the traditional The Queue The tournament has lost volume and length, and on Friday, when the Met Office recorded 26.6 millimetres of rain – “heavy” intensity, bordering on “very heavy”, starting at 30.1 – attendance was noticeably affected; specifically, 36,630 people went to the complex, 5,649 fewer than on the same day of the previous edition. During the first week of the competition, a total of 282,955 spectators went to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club – in south-west London, in a completely green environment – that is, 4% fewer than a year ago. The number decreased every day, except on Tuesday 2, when the Scot Andy Murray had his last farewell.
Maneuvers and caution
President Sally Bolton is clear: “The weather is having an impact on this data. The real challenge has been its variability. Anyone looking at the data two days in advance will see that it seems like it will improve, but then it changes.” So, she clarifies, “maintaining the level of joy and excitement when it is pouring with rain is very difficult.”
The weather station has reported that the rainfall has been twice as high as expected, and everyone is trying to adapt to the inconveniences. Alcaraz, for example, had to suspend training prior to the round of 16 match against Frenchman Ugo Humbert and on Monday, he was supposed to train at one o’clock, but faced with the black sky and the possibility that the session would have to be interrupted, he opted to stay in the house he has rented near the club. The 21-year-old from Murcia has played three of the four matches indoors, in an atmosphere very charged by humidity and with special caution in the manoeuvres, like everyone else, to prevent a bad slip. He, like the rest, competes with shoes whose soles are completely covered with tiny studs to reinforce the grip.
“I’m not used to playing like this, I’m not going to lie. But I don’t consider myself a bad player indoors. I think many are better than me. And, honestly, I would prefer to play outdoors, that’s obvious,” says the player from El Palmar, tied in the previous matches with Paul (2-2). “If the weather is good, the sun is out, there’s no wind, the conditions are perfect… But in the end, whether it’s outdoors or indoors, I have to adapt my game to the conditions,” adds the Spaniard, aware of the danger of the American. “We both have a very aggressive style, people will enjoy it. It’s very fun to play against him,” says the world number 13, who before Wimbledon triumphed on the grass of Queen’s and has so far defeated Pedro Martínez (49th), Otto Virtanen (147th), Alexander Bublik (23rd) and Roberto Bautista (112th).
Characterised by his quick shots, his hitting and serving, he is a threat in the quarterfinals. And, as the forecast predicts, so is the rain once again: the probability of precipitation is 90%. It is, without a doubt, a wet Wimbledon.
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