Wimbledon Order of Play
The order of play at Wimbledon for the following day is announced at the end of each day’s play. Once all the matches have been decided for that day, the referee decides which players will be playing on which court and at what time on the day following.
It sounds simple, but you should consider that some players are competing in more than one tournament. For example a player could be competing in the ladies’ singles and also in the mixed doubles. In this situation changes could occur if it is found that two matches with the same player involved would clash.
The order of play generally has three matches played on any one court in a single day. Sometimes it will be four, particularly if women’s or mixed doubles matches are played. This is because these can only run to a maximum of three sets rather than five for the men.
Play usually starts at 12 noon on the outside courts, with play commencing an hour later at 1pm on the show courts (but, given the English weather, you might not bet on this!). These include Centre Court and Court No. 1. Since the retractable roof was put over Centre Court play there can no longer be disrupted by rain. But bad weather can still stop play on the other courts, which means changes can occur to the order of play to accommodate matches that have not been completed on time.
Related posts:
- Wimbledon 2011 Day 3 Order of Play
- Wimbledon Schedule 2010
- Wimbledon Match Format
- The Wimbledon Grounds
- Wimbledon In The 21st Century