I don't expect many people, if any, to agree with me but last night's events at Wimbledon have left me appalled.
Beginning their match at around 7:45 in the evening, Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis would have expected a late finish courtesy of the now famous 'Wimbledon roof'. Murray always looked out of sorts but had somehow managed to keep the match all-square when the time came to call a temporary halt for the roof-closing ceremony. When the players emerged for a second time, it was passed half past nine and the match was at 1 set all - at least 2 more full sets needed, quite possibly 3.
At this point, some Wimbledon 'jobsworth' let it be known that, whatever the state of the match, play would not continue beyond 11:00 pm. 'Why ?' was never satisfactorily explained, although the commentators frequently made reference to that bane of our lives 'Health and safety'. How there could have been 'health and safety' issues involved in determining this cut-off time remains a mystery.
The third set, clearly a very important one for both players, lasted almost an hour until Murray finally claimed it, but by now it was 10:35 and even fitting in one more set in the time allowed looked problematic. Neither player wanted to have to return on Monday to finish the match as this would, apparently, have led to a knock-on effect with later matches.
While Murray began to race around like a demented chicken, Baghdatis clearly came to the conclusion that a quick and decisive fourth set was to everyones' advantage; his demeanour changed and he clearly felt under pressure to rush through the set as well. The result was an unseemly race to get games finished, with Baghdatis completely losing his way as the clock ticked towards the 11:00pm deadline. In the end, the umpire allowed one game to be played after this time, a game that Murray won in seconds as his opponent made nothing more than token efforts to provide any challenge.
At the end, the crowd cheered wildly; their man had won and they seemed oblivious to the way in which the victory had ben achieved. The last set took little more than 25 minutes, with Baghdatis clearly disadvantaged by the manic haste with which it was played. For myself, I felt that the ludicrous action of the Wimbledon authorities ruined the match and seriously devalued Murray's triumph.
Having spent many millions on the roof in the first place, why on earth should they introduce this arbitrary deadline on playing time ? They had the ability to allow last night's match to be played to a proper finish, which may well have resulted in a victory for Baghdatis, but they chose not to do so. The ridiculous notion that there would have been health and saftey concerns if play had been allowed to continue simply makes no sense. No one had forced the crowd to be there and they were perfectly able to work out, for themselves, how they would all get home. Pubs, clubs and theatres have no such worries, so why does Wimbledon ? Snooker and boxing regularly go on well after this time; what is so different about tennis ?
Yet again, this country has been made to look ridiculous by the imposition of pointless and arbitrary rules. This time, a tennis match was ruined; what will it be next time ?
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