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Centre Court

Coordinates: 51°26′1.48″N 0°12′50.63″W / 51.4337444°N 0.2140639°W / 51.4337444; -0.2140639
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Centre Court is also a generic British English term for the main court at any tennis complex.
Wimbledon Centre Court
Centre Court in 2012
Map
LocationAll England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon, London, SW19
OwnerAELTC
Capacity15,000
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Opened1922
Renovated2009
Construction cost£ 100 million
(2009 renovation)
ArchitectPopulous (formerly HOK Sport)[1]
Tenants
Wimbledon Championships
Summer Olympics (2012)

Centre Court is the main court at the Wimbledon Championship, the 3rd annual Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar. It is situated adjacent to Aorangi Terrace and is home to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Its only regular use is for the two weeks a year that the Championships take place. Centre Court has a premier box that the Royal Family uses, as well as other distinguished guests, and is also known by its postcode SW19.

A retractable roof was installed in 2009, enabling play to continue during rain. Centre Court will also host the tennis competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics along with No. 1 Court and No. 2 Court.

Background

Centre Court during the 2005 Wimbledon Championships

The name "Centre Court" derives from the location of the principal court at the All England Croquet Club's original site off Worple Road, Wimbledon – where the main court was located in the centre of all the other courts.[2] The name was kept when the club relocated to its present site in 1922.[2]. It wasn't until a further four courts were added in 1980 that Centre Court's location in the grounds matched its name.[2]

The court suffered from bomb damage during World War II when five 500lb bombs hit the Centre Court during an air attack in October 1940. 1,200 seats in the stadium were destroyed and although play resumed on time after the war in 1946, the court wasn't fully repaired until 1949.[2]

The original roof for the centre court from 1922 has been modified several times. In 1979, it was raised by one metre to allow the capacity to be increased by 1,088.[2] Further building work came in 1992 with a replacement of the roof and a modified structure which allowed 3,601 seats to have a clearer view of the court which had previously been restricted by the number of roof supports.[2]

Centre Court without a roof during the 2007 Wimbledon Championships

After many years of debate by players, fans, media and officials that often occurred during rain delays, the All England Club finally decided to build a retractable roof for the stadium and building work began with the removal of the existing roof at the end of the 2006 championships.[3]. There was no roof for the 2007 event and fixed part of the new construction was visible the following year. The completed retractable roof structure was ready for the 2009 Championships, being unveiled in April 2009 and tested with a capacity audience during an exhibition match on 17 May 2009, featuring Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman, and Kim Clijsters (subsequently returning from retirement).[4][5]

Capacity has been increased to 15,000 by adding six rows of seats to the upper tier on the east, north, and west sides. New media facilities, scoreboards including video, and commentary boxes were built to replace those currently in the upper tier. New wider seats were installed and new additional stairs and lifts were added.

Retractable roof

Centre Court during the 2010 Wimbledon Championships

The retractable roof, installed in 2009, takes up to 10 minutes to close, during which time play shall be suspended. However the time to transfer from outside to inside play can be up to 45 minutes while the air-conditioning system acclimatizes the nearly 15,000-seat stadium for indoor-grass competition.[6]

The tournament rules for the Wimbledon fortnight dictate the roof must remain closed until the end of the match, so some matches may be completed indoors, even though the sun has re-emerged.[7]

The roof was closed for the first time during a competitive Championships match at about 4:40 pm on Monday 29 June 2009, during the fourth round Ladies Singles match between Amélie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina.[8]

The first full match to be played with the roof closed was a men's singles fourth round match between British player Andy Murray and Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. Play on centre court had never gone past 9.17 pm, but with the roof closed and the floodlights on, the match was able to be completed after dark – at 10.38 pm.[9][10] Merton Council's environmental chief David Simpson said after Murray's late night win that late night tennis would not cause any problems.[11] However, when the record late finish was surpassed in 2010 during a match between Novak Djokovic and Olivier Rochus which ran until 10.58 pm it was reported that Merton council had imposed a curfew of 11 pm BST on Centre Court.[12]. This was then exceeded on Saturday 30 June 2012, when Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis in their 3rd round match, which completed at 11.02pm, in spite of the 11.00pm ruling. [13].

The roof was mobilised by SCX Special Projects Ltd, who also undertake all the planned preventative maintenance.[14]

On Sunday 8 July 2012, Andy Murray and Roger Federer contested the first Wimbledon final to be played partially under a roof.

Scoreboard

File:Wimbledon Centre Court Scoreboard installed in 1982.jpg
Old Dot-Matrix Centre Court scoreboard
New LCD Centre Court scoreboard

The Scoreboard on centre court is one of the more recognisable parts of Centre Court.[15] The previous dot matrix scoreboard was installed in 1982 and was replaced in 2008 by a full LCD screen intended to provide full Hawk-Eye replays to the crowd in the stadium.[15] Both of these scoreboards were made by Rolex with the new LCD one being the first digital timepiece made by Rolex.

Inscription

There is an inscription above the entryway to Centre Court which reads "If you can meet with triumph and disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same" – lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem If— .[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wimbledon AELTC Redevelopment architect: Populous
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Championships History". wimbledon.com. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  3. ^ "Wimbledon Centre Court Retractable Roof". designbuild-network.com. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  4. ^ "Wimbledon set for late finishes". BBC Sport. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  5. ^ "Roof is welcome Wimbledon addition". BBC Sport. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  6. ^ http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-sports/2012/06/29/when-to-use-wimbledon-roof/
  7. ^ Wimbledon new roof guardian.co.uk
  8. ^ "First match under roof begins new era". wimbledon.org. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  9. ^ Andy Murray stays up late Daily Dust
  10. ^ "Murray wins late-night thriller". BBC Sport. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  11. ^ Wimbledon’s Centre Court roof provides lucrative late-night tennis timesonline.co.uk
  12. ^ Latest ever finish at Wimbledon tennis
  13. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18654579
  14. ^ http://www.scxspecialprojects.co.uk/cache/filelibrary/73/library/fileLibrary/2011/6/Wimbledon.pdf
  15. ^ a b "New boards please, as Wimbledon goes digital". Daily Mail. 21 June 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  16. ^ René Stauffer The Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection New Chapter Press
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Centre Court.
Preceded by Davis Cup
Final Venue
1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 		Succeeded by

51°26′1.48″N 0°12′50.63″W / 51.4337444°N 0.2140639°W / 51.4337444; -0.2140639

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