Mills seeks boon from weather gods

In 1991, when life was as bad, about 123 matches were completed by the end of first week. This year, it has been just 96. With the backlog about 130 matches from yesterday, the schedule is running at least two days behind.

Six years ago, there was no play on the first day on Monday, on Tuesday there were just 28 matches, Wednesday 18 matches, on Thursday it had just six matches, and on Friday, it made up for lost matches by having 71 matches.

However, with the London Met Office saying that there could be a brief spell of clear weather late in the afternoon, the officials are hoping that they can get some matches through. The covers did not come off the entire day and there wasn’t a time when there was no rains.

With play almost certain to be called off, the officials will have no option to play on middle Sunday. Sadly, the forecast for Sunday is not encouraging to say the least. Faced with the worst weather ever in his long stint as referee of The Championships, Alan Mills would be forced to take up a couple of days of the third week considering the fact that two full days have already been lost.

Reducing the men’s singles to the best of three matches would be the last option they would want to exercise because it would become a lottery for most players, particularly on the natural surface. The question is not whether they would spill into the third week, the question is how many days of the third week will they need to finish the tournament.