Little to soak up at Wimbledon

The 121st Wimbledon has gone haywire. The water torture of serial rainstorms has driven it mad. Its schedule has drifted down the gullies toward farce.

“It’s ghastly,” said Andrew Jarrett, and his position generally calls for measured language.

He’s the tournament referee.

Rain falls, stops, falls, stops, falls for 20 minutes, stops for an hour, falls for two hours, stops for 17 minutes, falls meekly, stops, falls biblically. Through Saturday and Monday and Tuesday, crews pulled tarps on and off courts, with the rain reserving its most obnoxious howling for Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling.

Of all the matches inconvenienced, Nadal-Soderling takes the soggy cake. When the Spaniard ranked No. 2 and the Swede ranked No. 28 take Court No. 1 yet again at noon , weather permitting, it will mark their eighth installment in a third-round match that began Saturday at 4 p.m. and stalled for the seventh time Tuesday at 6:33 p.m. as rain fell and Nadal flung away a ball in disgust.

By then, their match had gone more than 74 hours sans verdict, to 4-4 in the fifth set, Soderling having saved a match point in a third-set tiebreaker when Nadal shoved a forehand wide about 25 hours earlier.

With the tournament behind by eight men’s singles and five women’s singles matches (with 12 others still in progress), peculiar sights abound. While Nadal still dwells in the third round, straining to repeat his 2006 appearance in the final, four-time defending champion Roger Federer graces the quarterfinals, two rounds ahead of Nadal.

While Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero hold down quarterfinal berths, 10 men play the fourth round, including the last American man in the tournament, Andy Roddick, who is seeded third, while four still play the third, including Nadal, Soderling, the unseeded Nicolas Kiefer and Novak Djokovic, seeded fourth.

If any of the four reaches the final, he could end up playing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“Making people play two matches in a day is something we would fight against,” Jarrett said.

In another quirk from a squeezed schedule, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova had to begin their fourth-round uproar on a peasant court. Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, the two former champions took Court No. 3, normally an afterthought for the high-brow.

One side of the court has no stand but simply a row of wooden benches. On the other side, an alley runs between the stand and the court, so hordes bunched in for a glimpse. Every seat filled, and everyone bunched in together.

The players warmed up. Absurdly, a sprinkler system briefly sprayed the hydrangeas and roses nearby.

Williams started the match at 5:05. Sharapova drove a backhand long on the first point. Williams yanked a backhand wide on the second. Williams drove a screaming cross-court forehand to claim the third.

Lightning crackled. Play halted, set to resume today on Centre Court.

Yet somewhere in the lunacy, everybody did learn something about the women’s tournament: It will have a new champion. In a fourth-round match that was interrupted three times by rain, Amelie Mauresmo looked lost and feeble in the third set of a 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-1 loss to rising 18-year-old Nicole Vaidisova.

Mauresmo’s feebleness found its apex during the 4-1 game of the third set with a hopeless baseline drop shot that seemed to die long before it settled at the bottom of the net.

Told she looked only disappointed rather than “very disappointed” after a tough 2007 with an appendectomy in it, Mauresmo said, “Well, I’m a good actress then.”

Wet but happy people did include four first-time Wimbledon quarterfinalists, including Vaidisova, 18-year-old Michaella Krajicek and 19-year-old French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic, as well as France’s Marion Bartoli, who is seeded 18th but shooed Jelena Jankovic, who was seeded third, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

They also included Lleyton Hewitt, 26, whose third-round match helped epitomize the tournament. It too, began Saturday, three days before the 2002 champion finished off Guillermo Canas, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Hewitt lamented having to “go on and off so many times,” and summarized Wimbledon 2007 when he said, “That’s the longest and toughest rain-delayed match I’ve ever had to put up with.”

--

Begin text of infobox

Delay of game

Rain stopped play at Wimbledon six times Tuesday and only seven singles matches were completed. Three men’s singles matches were suspended in progress and one was postponed entirely. One women’s singles match was suspended in progress. Today’s forecast: Light showers.

177 -- Total matches behind schedule

8 -- Men’s singles matches behind schedule

5 -- Women’s singles matches behind schedule

12 -- Matches currently suspended in progress

142 -- Matches interrupted by rain

9 -- Rain delays in Centre Court

12 -- Rain delays on Court No. 1

13 -- Most rain delays on any court (Courts 9, 18)

--

Still going, and going ...

The third-round match between No. 2-seeded Rafael Nadal and No. 28 seeded Robin Soderling has been delayed seven times. When it was suspended again Tuesday, the approximate duration of the match had reached 74 hours 23 minutes:

1 At 4 p.m. Saturday, Nadal and Soderling warm up on Centre Court. Nadal approaches the umpire’s chair, worried about the court’s slickness. At 4:10 p.m., play is suspended. Score: 0-0.

2 At 12:03 p.m. Monday, Nadal and Soderling warm up on Court No. 1, able to switch because they have played no points. Nadal surges to a 6-4, 4-3 lead. At 1:30 p.m., rain begins, and Nadal resumes his concern about slickness. Umpire insists that play continue. At 1:35 p.m., play is suspended during changeover. Score: Nadal, 6-4, 4-3.

3 At 2:55 p.m. Monday, Nadal and Soderling warm up on Court No. 1. At 2:59 p.m., the rain returns and play is suspended before match is resumed.

4 At 4:09 p.m. Monday, Nadal and Soderling warm up. At 4:16 p.m., play resumes. Nadal closes out the second set to lead, 6-4, 6-4, then takes a 3-1 lead in the third. Soderling recovers to lead, 5-3. Nadal breaks back to get to a tiebreaker, then leads 7-6 in the tiebreaker for match point. He hits a forehand wide for 7-7, then challenges the call. The video screen shows the call accurate. About 5:33 p.m., rain falls and play is suspended. Score: Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-6 (7-7).

5 At 7:20 p.m. Monday, Nadal and Soderling return to Court No. 1. At 7:30 p.m., Nadal and Soderling resume play. Soderling wins first two points, the second with an ace, to claim the third-set tiebreaker, 9-7. Soderling’s momentum persists, and he takes the fourth set, 6-4. Nadal zooms to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set. They reach 30-all on Nadal’s serve. At 8:30 p.m., rain begins and play is suspended for night. Score: Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 4-6, 2-0, 30-all.

6 At 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, Nadal and Soderling return to Court No. 1 to warm up. At 4:50 p.m., play resumes. Soderling rallies to tie the fifth set, 2-2. Nadal holds serve to lead, 3-2. At 5:09 p.m., lightning is visible in the area and, just before rain restarts, officials suspend play. Score: Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 4-6, 3-2.

7 At 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nadal and Soderling return to Court No. 1 to warm up. At 6:21 p.m., play resumes, and the players stay on service, getting to 4-4. At 6:33 p.m., rain resumes and play is suspended. Score: Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 4-4. Rain continues and at 7:25 p.m., play is suspended for the day.--

Source: Chuck Culpepper