Organisers are faced with the worst scheduling headache for 25 years at the Wimbledon tennis championships after rain once again disrupted play today.
French Open champion Rafael Nadal and men's fourth seed Novak Djokovic have yet to complete their third round matches, the first time last 32 encountershave stretched to the middle Wednesday since 1982.
With the majority of junior and doubles events still in the opening stages, the weather-struck tournament is now over 200 matches behind schedule.
In 1982 over three times the average midsummer rainfall also forced the men's final, won by Jimmy Connors, to be played a day later than scheduled.
Should either Nadal or Djokovic reach the final, the highest seeds in the draw's bottom half will have to complete a round a day to save the tournament from extending into a third week for the first time since 2001.
Organisers decided to stick to tradition and not to play on the middle Sunday of the tournament.
Wimbledon has opened three times before on the middle Sunday when rain badly disrupted the first week's schedule.
A retractable roof over centre court will be in place for the 2009 championships allowing television coverage to continue but guaranteeing the completion of only four or five extra matches a day.
MATCHES SUSPENDED DUE TO RAIN:
MEN:
(2) Rafael Nadal and (28) Robin Soderling are locked at 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 4-all
