WIMBLEDON DAILY REPORT : Delays Are Anything but Great in Britain

When the rain falls at Wimbledon, the All England Club’s highly drilled groundsmen spring into action, pulling tarps and snapping covers over the courts like a pit crew at Indy.

When it really rains, as it did for hours Wednesday, another well-trained group goes to work: the members of the armed forces who serve as ushers, and the fans, who are bored and starved for entertainment.

It was the Welsh Guards who first began to lead the sodden fans on Court 1 in a sing-along during the first three-hour rain delay. They waved their arms and sang such chestnuts as “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

Members of the Royal Air Force, not to be outdone, managed to engage the crowd in an en masse game of charades. Then the grounds crew, in green coveralls, twirled umbrellas and tiptoed in a chorus line, bellowing, “Singing in the Rain.”

The more staid denizens of Centre Court were treated to interviews of celebrities in the seats. First came former English player John Lloyd. Then came Cliff Richard, aging pop crooner. Richard also sang an a cappella string of his “hits,” with the crowd cheerily joining in. A group of players from the women’s tour, led by Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova, filed in behind Richard and formed a kind of Up With People revue.

The BBC showed much of the on-court revelry, then broadcast what appeared to be a highlight reel of John McEnroe’s Wimbledon temper tantrums. Plenty of programming there.

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Today’s program features the women’s semifinals. Top-seeded Steffi Graf will play 12th-seeded Kimiko Date, one of two players to beat her this year, and fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario will play unseeded Meredith McGrath.

Graf is seeking her seventh Wimbledon title and is the defending champion. She beat Sanchez Vicario in last year’s final.