JUST a handful of matches to play now on Centre Court in its present form. By the time the championships roll round in 2009 the roof will be in place, and all will be right with the world.
Or at least, that's what some people would have you believe, and you can understand why they hanker after a simple so
lution - year after year of enduring rain delays has made them long for something better.
The BBC showed an example of this the other day. I think it was when it broadcast highlights of the Henman-Ivanisevic semi-final from 2001, the one which lasted three days, though the remarks by one of its commentators when the players ran off and the covers came on could have been made at the start of any rain break.
"Just give us a roof," he pleaded. "The technology is there."
Well yes, it is there, but there will be only one roof, on one court, and there are only so many matches which can be played on that court.
If it's the last day of the fortnight, and you have only three matches left to play when the rain falls, that's when the roof does the trick. But if you get a run of bad weather, which is not exactly unknown, the roof will get rid of only a minimal part of the backlog. Too much rain on too many days and the need to extend the event into a third week will still be a distinct possibility.
And to be honest, the closer the roof creeps, the more some of us are having second thoughts. Dealing with rain breaks has always been a part of the game which players have to learn. From 2009 onwards, those favoured with a placing on Centre Court will have the advantage of playing their match with one less random factor.
ThursdayIT'S that weird time of the Wimbledon fortnight when it feels like everyone has lost interest. No, not because Andy Murray has been knocked out, but because, with fewer matches to be seen on the outside courts, not so many people turn up without Centre or No 1 Court tickets.
Everything is quieter and calmer. The train to Southfields from town this morning, for example, was almost empty - though that may just have had something to do with the fact that the District Line was suspended for an hour and an half and had just got up and running again when we reached High Street Kensington station after our long march from our base in the Holland Park ghetto.
Perhaps today is especially quiet because of the relative lack of enthusiasm for the women's semi-finals. With their closest rivals having all gone out of the tournament in the first week, Venus and Serena Williams are closing in on a third family final, and no-one is giving their opponents today, Elena Dementieva and Jie Zheng, much of a chance.
You can't blame the sisters for playing their best, but their dominance this year shows that women's tennis is going through a bit of a fallow period. This is in part due to the retirement of Justine Henin, for the Belgian, a short and slight specimen compared to the American siblings, was regularly able to show how you could go into a match against a Williams with a physical disadvantage yet still come out on top.
It's another fine day, incidentally. There was some rain earlier and the odd shower is expected later on, but nothing like the quasi-apocalypse which forecasters suggested was on its way. Though of course if there is a massive thunderstorm later on I'll take it all back and accept the professionals know more about meteorology than I do.
WednesdayIT'S one of those frustrating days which Wimbledon does so well, or at least so often. We had one rain delay not long after play started on the outside courts, and now the covers are back on _ and the players back off as another light shower has struck.
Still, at least the weather is a lot better than the forecast, which was heavy rain today and heavy showers tomorrow. If that had become a reality, Andy Murray's quarter-final against Rafael Nadal might not even have got started today, and there would also have been a possibility that it would not get finished tomorrow.
And, as well as the conditions being better, Roger Federer has been doing his best to hurry things along. The No 1 seed took the first set against Mario Ancic, the last player to beat him here all of six years ago, in exactly 20 minutes. It's currently a game apiece in the second.
Those spectators who turn up just for the day probably find it most difficult to deal with the rain delays. The players are used to them - it rains more frequently at Wimbledon than at some other tour venues, but nowhere is completely arid - and have a variety of coping strategies.
Backgammon is one common pastime - Tim Henman taught Murray how to play, and a number of players also indulge - but as the aim is to rest before a match, the favourite "activity" in the dressing room is probably lounging around with one's feet up.
The main problem, apart from the sheer boredom, is knowing when to eat. Svetlana Kuznetsova got it wrong the other day when she ate some pasta and was called out to play sooner than expected.
It's probably best if you can just keep yourself topped up by grazing, as that way you'll not be too full to play. Sushi, Murray's favourite, is ideal in that respect.
TuesdayTHE walk from Southfields tube station to the All England Club is a pleasant enough undulating stroll of around 15 minutes, but in recent years it has marred by one thing - ticket touts.
And not just any old ticket touts, but the most 'orrible ones who sound like the direct descendants of London's Second World War spivs.
"Anyone got any tickets," they snarl out of the side of their mouths as you go past. "Buy or sell tickets."
Their absence from the environs of Wimbledon came as a pleasant surprise this year, as they were out in force just a couple of weeks earlier at Queen's, the warm-up tournament in west London. The difference between there and here, quite simply, is a decision by the local police and Merton Council, whose patch includes Wimbledon, to set up a dispersal zone around the club.
In years past the touts would be out in force on days such as this, with the fine weather attracting thousands more to the ground in the hope of catching some sun and tennis together. Those who do get in today better make the most of it, because the weather tomorrow is scheduled to be lousy, with Thursday not much better.
To be honest, the tennis has not been great so far today. The first two women's quarter-finals are dragging on, and while the Williams sisters now look set to meet again in the final on Saturday, neither they nor any of their rivals have been playing really exciting stuff.
With any luck Jamie Murray will liven things up a bit when he and Liezel Huber come on to Court No 2 to play in the mixed doubles.
They're on after Andy Murray's former coach Mark Petchey and his fellow-Briton have played in the round robin doubles for old gits, or the Gentlemen's Invitation to give it its polite title.
MondayMIDDLE Monday is always the busiest day of the Wimbledon fortnight, with every fourth-round match in both the men's and women's singles due to be played.
Thankfully, the weather is excellent at present and is forecast to continue in similar vein throughout the day, so by close of play around 9pm we can expect the quarter-final line-ups to be complete.
It's also a busy day for Jamie Murray, who has had his hair cut short so looks less like a latterday member of the Hair Bear Bunch than he used to. He's got two doubles matches today - the men's first with Max Mirnyi, then the mixed with Liezel Huber. With only one other match scheduled to be played between those two, Jamie will have little time to cool down after the first before he has to start warming up again for the second.
Maybe he'll just stay warmed up for the duration by jogging non-stop around the grounds for the hour or so between his contests, or if the timings are right he might even get to see a little bit of his brother Andy's match against Richard Gasquet on Centre Court.
Last year, of course, Jamie made history by winning the mixed doubles with Jelena Jankovic. The Serbian decided not to try to defend the title this year as she had had a couple of injuries and wanted to concentrate on the singles. Well, she has just been knocked out, losing in straight sets to Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
Jankovic injured her knee in Saturday's third round and had some strapping on it today, but it did not seem to be affecting her mobility too much. All the same, following the elimination last week of Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic that now means that the three Serbs who are at or near the top of the game have failed even to get into the quarter-finals.
The full article contains 1590 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
