A Washout at Wimbledon

This is what it came to Wednesday at Wimbledon.

Fans stood in the rain and wind, clutching umbrellas turned inside out in the gales, and looked longingly skyward.

It wasn’t to catch a glimpse of sun or blue sky. That wasn’t happening. It was to raise a cheer any time they spied a player or even a player’s coach hurry across a catwalk between the locker room and the players’ dining room. Huge cheers went up for Goran Ivanisevic, Andy Roddick and even for Roddick’s coach, Brad Gilbert.

It rained overnight. It rained early in the morning. The winds picked up about noon, so the rain came sideways. After seven hours and several announcements of potential starting times punctuated by a proper British gentleman intoning, “We must remain optimistic,” all play at Wimbledon was abandoned.

This was the first time since the first Tuesday of 1999 that not a ball was hit and only the 14th time since World War II that the courts weren’t uncovered.

After three days, only 83 of a scheduled 160 matches have been completed. To begin making up time, tournament referee Alan Mills announced that men’s doubles would be reduced to best-of-three from best-of-five until the quarterfinals and that play would begin at 11 a.m. instead of noon on the outer courts and at noon instead of 1 p.m. on Centre Court and Court 1.

Whispers of playing on the middle Sunday, Wimbledon’s traditional off-day, have begun. Only twice in 118 years has that happened, in 1991 and 1997. But Mills said such a scenario would not be addressed until Friday.

In 1997 only 94 matches had been completed after five days. This year, the weather forecasts sound gloomy enough to think there will be live matches Sunday. Today’s forecast is for continuing rain. Friday should have “brief periods of sunshine” interspersed with “heavy rain.” And on a Saturday weather map shown on the BBC, England was covered in drawings of wind and showers.

There are still 25 men’s and 20 women’s first-round matches unfinished. Men’s No. 3 seed Guillermo Coria started his match Monday against Wesley Moodie and it’s now in the fifth set, Coria needing to win only two more points. But he couldn’t get on the court Wednesday after being chased off by rain Monday and Tuesday.

This stands as the worst start in 13 years. In 1991 only 46 matches were complete after three days.

For the fans who stood in the rain and cold all day there is little consolation. They get a refund but no promise of a ticket next year.

A roof is planned for Centre Court but no earlier than 2009. Construction is expected to begin no earlier than 2006 pending timely approval of planning permits, according to Wimbledon officials.

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Wipe-Out

No matches were played on Day 3 of Wimbledon on Wednesday. It’s the first complete rainout since June 29, 1999. Previous weather delays at Wimbledon with more than two hours of play lost:

* 2003...One of 14 days delayed by weather

* 2002...Three of 14 days

* 2001...One of 14 days

* 2000...One of 14 days

* 1999...Three of 14 days

* 1998...One of 14 days

* 1997...Seven of 14 days

* 1996...Eight of 14 days

TODAY’S FEATURED MATCHES

* Andy Roddick (2) vs. Wang Yeu-Tzuoo, Taiwan (completion of suspended match)

* Irakli Labadze, Georgia, vs. Lleyton Hewitt (7), Australia

* Karolina Sprem, Croatia, vs. Venus Williams (3)

* Claudine Schaul, Luxembourg, vs. Jennifer Capriati (7)

* Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, vs. Alejandro Falla, Colombia

* Aniko Kapros, Hungary, vs. Anastasia Myskina (2), Russia