Night Matches at Wimbledon?

Those frustrating words "rain stopped play" which we are so used to hearing at the Wimbledon Championships, are set to be a thing of the past, on Centre Court at least.

Centre Court now has a retractable roof, which was officially unveiled two weeks ago and is set to be used on the main court during the championships.

Having a roof over Centre Court, is certainly an initiative that will be welcomed by fans, who no longer have to worry about being deprived of seeing live action due to the elements.

The majority of players are also likely to embrace the idea of having a roof over the most famous court in the world, as we have often seen rain delays disrupt a player's rhythm and perhaps even influence the outcome of the match.

Who can forget the 2001 Semi Final between the then British No. 1 Tim Henman, and the Wild Card Goran Ivanisevic. Even though Ivanisevic was a three-time finalist, his ranking had dipped so low that he needed a wild card to get into the prestigious event.

Ivanisevic was renowned for having a wild temperament, so when the Croatian lost the 3rd set, 6-0 to go down 2 sets to one, Henman appeared to be cruising to a place in the final.

However, the rain forced the players off at the end of the third set, and the game was stretched out over three days, as it turned out Ivanisevic managed to fight back to remarkably win the match, he would go on to defeat Pat Rafter in the final.

Another example of where a roof could well have made a difference is the Wimbledon Final in 2004, Roger Federer was the defending champion, and in the final he met the American Andy Roddick.

The match was one set all, but Roddick was leading 4-2 in the third set when the rain came. The American really was playing breathtaking tennis, attacking Federer on both wings, and making astonishing regularity.

Roddick appeared to be on course to be the first American Champion at SW19 since the great Pete Sampras in 2000.

However, on the resumption Federer appeared to be a different player.

His movement was far more fluid and his timing was much sweeter that it was before the rain interruption. Federer managed to turn the match around and was victorious in 4 sets.

Now that there is a roof over centre court, the lights that have been built into the roof are such that tennis can theoretically be played way into the night on Centre Court.

When I heard about this, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to introduce night matches to Wimbledon.

At the US Open on Arthur Ashe Court, the night session starts at 7 p.m. and it has the buzz and atmosphere of a carnival, with music blaring at the change of ends and people enjoying themselves and being treated to high quality tennis.

While I appreciate, that Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows are two completely different tournaments with different tennis cultures, surely this was a chance for the All England club to have tennis at night to make the tournament even more of a spectacle.

Instead the All-England Club have said that, while they will allow matches to be finished off that in the past would have been stopped for bad light, there are no plans to form the schedule any differently.

Therefore, there will be no night sessions at Wimbledon. I cannot help but feel that this is a missed opportunity by the powers that be.