Wimbledon fans to get ticket refund after lengthy rain delays on Wednesday
Wednesday 29 June 2016 23:24, UK
Some spectators at Wimbledon on a very soggy Wednesday will receive a ticket refund after long rain interruptions.
Spectators at No 1 Court, where there was less than an hour of play, will get all their money back, while those on No 2 Court and No 3 Court, where there were between one and two hours of action, will receive 50 per cent.
Fans with grounds passes that provide access to smaller courts are also are eligible for refunds of 50 per cent except for anyone who bought those tickets at turnstiles after 5pm.
Overall, 40 singles matches were either postponed entirely or suspended in progress on Wednesday - the third day at Wimbledon.
At Centre Court, the All England Club's only arena with a retractable roof, five matches were played to their conclusion, which included Roger Federer's defeat of Britain's world No 772 Marcus Willis.
Wimbledon faces a major backlog after showers savaged Wednesday's schedule. Only 18 of the billed 74 matches were completed, and Britain's Heather Watson will head into a second day of her delayed first-round match against Germany's Annika Beck on Thursday.
The Centre Court roof was finished in 2009 and its use meant Agnieszka Radwanska, Novak Djokovic and Federer got through their matches without getting wet, and the clashes involving Belinda Bencic and Eugenie Bouchard were also moved across to the 15,000-capacity arena in the evening.
An intended start at 11.30am on the outside courts had been immediately put back due to spots of rain, and action began almost an hour later than planned, before soon being stopped just before 1pm by a fresh arrival of showers in south west London.
That brief window had been sufficient for Andrea Petkovic and Tomas Berdych to complete their first-round matches, which were among 30 that had been either unfinished or yet to start when a wet-weather interruption cut short play on Tuesday.
Come the end of the day, after intermittent showers caused play on all but Centre to finish by 6.30pm, the weather problem was mounting for organisers. Wimbledon last saw play on the middle Sunday, traditionally a rest day, in 2004.
The 'People's Sunday' option is only considered in drastic circumstances, and the lost of a day and a half to the wet weather appeared unlikely to force the tournament's hand at this stage.
However, with showers forecast for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the tournament may find it needs to forfeit its day off.
The day's doubles matches were also scratched from the programme. Wimbledon announced the first round of the men's doubles would be reduced from best-of-five-set to best-of-three contests, in an effort to help with the schedule.
Wimbledon is due to have a cover on Court One in time for the 2019 championships, which will allow play to also continue in that arena while rain falls outside.
